“Little miss Annabel, running away, tore her feed sack dress, and cried all the way” I remember growing up just outside of town and always wondering about what life would be like if I was not born on the farm. I dreamed about having pretty clothes, matching bonnet, and real leather tie up shoes. The Sears catalog was my window to the real world and all the pretty dresses, coats, and shoes were so pretty. Once I grew up, I understood why I could not have those wonderful things. ma and poppy never did have the extra money for “uppity up dressings”, as ma called them. Once in a while, a new pattern of feed sacks would come out and if I was lucky, I got a new dress which had to last as long as it could. I knew that one day if I got married and had a little girl, things would be different. Several times, after visiting the country store, I would pull on ma’s apron in the attempt to show her the new dress hanging on the dress form in the millenary. Ma would quietly say, ‘ not now girl, wait until harvest. Pappy will have the money to buy it for you. Hard times and pappy dying at a young age only made things harder for me and ma. I just knew things would be different for me . The years went by and I married my man. We moved to the other side of the county. After a while, we had our first child. Her name was Camilla. I began to understand why ma and pappy had such a hard time making ends meet. With the little egg money I collected, it seems as if every penny was needed just to survive.
