Sorry, I succumbed

I suppose it was inevitable. The rest of the family had had flu for weeks, so down I went. My apologies. Sometimes the urge to put myself on screen is lacking. Instead, I've spent time resting and reading, and thinking back to childhood days when I'd have to stay in bed.

What came to mind is what I remember of being kept in bed. That was how it went, before the invention of anti-biotics, although sulfur drugs had brought me through illness soon after my younger brother was born. I must have been too young to read to myself, so, to keep me amused, my mother would bring out her costume jewelry. And she had a lot. I'd sit up with a pillow on my lap and spread out all the sparkly coloured beads... necklaces and earrings mostly. Rings? Mom only ever wore her wedding and engagement ring. Not that she and my dad were ever engaged. After a ten year courtship during which only my dad's brother approved of their relationship, they decided to elope. One day during the Second World War my father arrived at the family home and said to my maternal grandmother, "Come on, Mrs. Wright. Go and put your hat on. Dot and I are going off to be married!" And married they were, for over sixty years.

I must have been six or seven years old when my dad took me into Johannesburg with him one day. His purpose? To buy my mom a diamond ring. Mission accomplished, I remember asking him how much it cost. His prompt reply was: "Two and sixpence!" -- the equivalent of something like 25 cents today.