Thursday, October 13, 2005

Playing tag

I was the youngest of four kids in my birth family. All girls. Mama said that I’d always be her baby. No matter how old I got.

I milked that for all it was worth.

When we'd play something like tag, as soon as I was tagged to be "it." I'd quit. I'm talkin' about when I was really little, like 4 and 5 years old. My sisters would complain about it, but Mama would take my side. I was the baby.

One day we were in our front yard playin' tag. A whole bunch of other kids, all older than I, were playing with us. Finally I'm caught. Right away I say, "I'm tired. I don't want to play anymore."

The sisters say that I can't quit. I have to play until I catch someone, then I can quit. Like that. 'Course, I know that if I catch someone then I won't want to quit. But, right now, I do want to quit. Don't want to be it.

I whine. Mama's sittin' on the front porch. She says, "Let her quit. She's tired. She's just little and she can't run as long as you girls can."

Oldest sister Mary says, "She knows exactly what she's doing. She'll quit and then after someone else is 'it' she'll want to play again."

Whoooops! I whipped my head back around to look at Mama, sure that now Mama would be on to me! I almost got whiplash. But Mama, sweet tiny Mama just smiled her Mona Lisa smile and looked at me. "No. She won't do that."

Well, because of Mama's faith in me, I sat out a couple of other people being "it." Then of course I put myself right back in the game. After all, I was the baby.

I've just been tagged with two tags. But I'm not going to be "it." Mama says I don't have to. That Mama. So sweet.

I'm still the baby. Mama said I'd always be her baby. So there. ;-P

27 comments:

Libby said...

oh, lucy, i love when you write stuff about Mama and wwhen you were little! BTW, i was also the youngest...i had 2 brothers who were 11 & 13 when i was born!! me, spoiled? you betcha! (don't boys! she's just a little girl!)
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

Doug The Una said...

From the mouth of babies. I admire your fortitude.

OldHorsetailSnake said...

And I am on Lucy's side, by cracky. Don't give her no sass. She's just a little thang tryin' to get along in the world. With her cane she uses to trip people who run too fast.

Meegan said...

Aww, what sweet memories. Your mama sounds special.

Lulu said...

Oh, but we want to know your 20 random facts!!! Please please please!

Can't you do like Katiedid and do yours but not pass the tag on?

mireille said...

but what's so wonderful is that we know that you have developed past that type of behavior and will be more than glad to give us twenty random facts about you just for the maturity of it all like that huh, TLP? ♥

mireille said...

Pssssst, actonbell. You make hearts by typing in & hearts ; (ampersandheartssemicolon) all mushed together. xoxo

The Village Idiot said...

It's a tag is made for losers and I'm pulling out of here to win.
{piano solo}
johnny used to work on the docks, but the taggers went on strike, he's down on his luck...

Boogie on, Reggae Woman,
The Idiot

M. C. Pearson said...

Tee hee hee! I'm the baby of four girls too! Yep...can totally relate. Don't you love being the cry baby?

Bela said...

Oh, boo! I very nearly tagged you: I would be thoroughly humiliated if you'd refused to be "it". You don't want your darling daughter to feel humiliated, do you?

I expect you just want to do it in your own time. Ok, we'll wait.

BarbaraFromCalifornia said...

Once a baby, always one, but not necessarily a child.

Sure mom would be proud of her young.

Jamie Dawn said...

Still sassy after all these years. You're a hoot!

Tammy said...

What a cute story. Reminds me of when I was little except it was my "gramos" who always stuck up for me and babied me.

Goa'uld said...

lol! I’m pretty sure I've done that before...when I was younger...

Lila said...

Ynnarg Yoda Pez was so sweet!

Okay, TLP. You don't hafta.

I have to try the heart:

Saur♥Kraut said...

What marvellous stories you tell about her. Thanks again for another wonderful piece of the past. I feel the stress drip away from me when I read your blog.

Christine said...

As the eldest child in my family, I must speak for all the other eldest out there and say:

BRAT,BRAT, SPOILED BRAT.

There, I feel better :-)

dddragon said...

secret's out - she does only what feels like doin'

&heart;

dddragon said...

aaarrgh

A said...

That was so sweet to read, thanks!

And I'm happy someone else doesn't care for tags either. I've been tagged three times over the last few weeks.

:-( Why? Why me? I write what I write on my blog because I have to; it's wayyy too hard to write when I'm being "forced" to do it by well-intended fellow bloggers.

So I handle it in an adult, mature fashion by pretending I didn't see the tag at all.

What tag?

Then I gush profusely about *anything* else in that person's comments for day's afterwards while I sweat in fear they'll nag me about the tag. ("I tagged you five DAYS ago; where is it?")

What's that? Cowardly, you say? Yeah, well...I don't like be "it" either.

All that pressure to perform up to a pre-conceived code of expectations! Who needs it? ;-P

I'd rather read about playing tag with one's sibs while Mama sits on the porch watching. ANY day. :-)

Tom & Icy said...

Don't worry about it. It all gets washed downstream anyway.

Monique said...

That was the best opting out of a tag I've ever seen. How clever of you to turn it into a story about your youth!

Saur♥Kraut said...

You tag-dodgers are all wusses. I'll bet Dddragon has torn most of her hair out by now...

lime said...

great story and clever way to avoid the tag. hehehe! i was always more of a dodgeball girl myself!

TLP said...

I'm loving these comments. Fun.

Well, the 5th sentence of my 23 post was boring beyond my usual boring self.

And there aren't 20 things to say about me.

dddragon said...

Well, if YOU can't find 20 things to say about yourself, perhaps me and my sisters ought to come up with a list!!

Mikki Marshall said...

I can't believe that you played the "I'm the baby" card. Terrible.

I'm glad to see that you did answer the 20 random facts question in the above post or we would have just had to make them up.

Could have been a lot worse.