Hula Hoop

When I was a little girl, my mother was still quite young herself. I guess you could say that in a way, we grew up together. Mom had a great body. She’s probably going to get me for saying that, but she did and her skin was a perfect bronze color. It was quite a contrast…Mom’s beautiful flawless tan and my stark white, freckled skin.

We spent many hours outside together. Mom did her sunbathing in the backyard. She spread out a lawn chair and when she was laying on her tummy, I would rub baby oil on her back and legs. When I was finished, I would run back and play on the little back porch in the shade.

When Audrey was born (she is four years younger and my only sibling) I spent much of my time trying to prevent her from eating dirt, grass and flowers. As a child her actions totally baffled me because I had no desire to eat any of those things and she was insistent on eating them! Thinking back now, it is quite hilarious. Other times she would sit and stare at me while I played and watched intently. We were both really calm children and I was great at entertaining myself which made playing always fun.

One of my favorite toys was a bright pink hula hoop with little balls in it that made a great clinking noise when you were good at keeping it circling your waist. At first, like anyone else, I was terrible at keeping the hula hoop going around and around, but as time passed, I could hula hoop for a very, very long time and often did so. I was good enough to not only keep it on my waist, but I could do it around my neck, arms, wrists, legs and ankles.

When Brittany and Alyssa were older, they both had their own hula hoops. Although they played with them sometimes, neither of them were as crazy about hula hooping as I had been as a child. I think the fact that there were no electronic gadgets to play with when I grew up is the reason that the hula hoop was a bigger thrill to me than them.

Sometimes it is hard to believe that so many years have passed since those long, lazy summer days with Mom especially when the clinking sound of the hula hoop is still vivid and fresh in my mind.