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Naked babies
October 15, 2007One of the greatest things about growing up in the country is that you get to stay naked for a really long time.
I really don't think I owned clothes -- and certainly not shoes -- until I started kindergarten.
Naked babies and toddlers are as common as tumbleweeds and mesquite trees across the countryside.
Which brings me to my favorite story about Sister 6.
Since she was 12 1/2 years younger than me, most of my early memories of her involve her being a baby and a toddler, and thus, being naked.
When she was 2, which would make me 15, sisters 3 and 4 always stripped her down to nothing and had her run through the house, belting out, "Lara's got a boyfriend" anytime a guy came to the house.
I don't know if because she was the sixth kid that we had run out of clothes or money or, that by that time, my parents simply didn't care, but she was naked a lot.
And to us, it was simply the norm.
To the rest of the world, though, it would always come as a shock.
One particular afternoon, this cowboy that worked for my dad knocked at the front door. I was sitting at the kitchen table and could hear the conversation clearly.
My dad answered the door and the cowboy had a puzzled look on his face.
"Mr. Richards," he said with his slow, deliberate drawl. "You've got a naked baby on your trampoline."
And my dad looked out the front door and I looked out the window, and there was Sister 6, jumping up and down on the trampoline buck naked spraying a water hose around.
The sound of the pickup barreling up the driveway. The cowboy standing on our porch, where she could clearly see him.
Nothing made Sister 6 stop bouncing or search for clothes.
My dad looked back at the cowboy.
"Well, I guess I do," Paw said.
My baby sister is now 21.
And fully clothed, for the record.
Posted by Lara Richards at 09:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Comments
October 15, 2007, 9:58 p.m. - fully clothed with pants, shoes, shirt, AND jacket, and of course the "unmentionables" - my how things have changed
