Yes, I am from the South so someone had to live in a trailer, right? Well, my Dad's parents lived much of my childhood in a single wide trailer in the country. Behind it was an acre of land that for all the time I remember it was filled with a garden. My grandfather was a very tall man and my memories are limited to him being often short of memory due to Parkinson's Disease among other things. My grandmother took care of him and maintained the house and garden. Papa was still able to help out some at first but over time he gradually lost his knowledge of us. My understanding is that he was a tough man most of his life but his illnesses made him a much easier person to get along with. He would always welcome us by saying "Good Morning this evening!" and smiling at us. It was his own joke I think.
Their trailer was red and white on the outside and over time a trellis was added to the front for Grandmother to plant her roses and to sit outside on her glider. My Grandmother had a green hand, not just a thumb. Anything she touched grew and was beautiful. The inside of the trailer was a continuous move from one room to the next. One end was the master bath which was "mighty fine" for a trailer of that time. It had a closet to one side, a mirrored wall with sink to the other side, a separate door for the toilet (this had to be great for people who were raised with outhouses), and a sunken tub directly as you walked in. What was cool about that tub for kids was that it had a step up to it which you of course could use as a stage.
The master bedroom was next and for most of the time there was a king size bed in that room. Truly amazing. Interestingly there was a back door to the trailer in the room that never as far I know had stairs off of it. However, it was a great escape route if you were being chased through the house. Next you stepped up into a kitchen that was black and white and was mentally and physically the center of the place. The laundry area was there and the stove, frig and freezer were well used in this room. Then you would step down into the living room. This room was darker and we all laughed about the lovely black vinyl bar that was in one corner. Not really sure what caused my church going grandparents to buy a trailer with a bar but we used it for playing and storage. After the living room was another bedroom at the other end of the house that also had a closet and a smaller bath.
That was the trailer and you would be amazed at how many people could get in there and eat, sleep, shell peas, shuck corn, watch 4 channels on TV, make 100s of individual apple pies, play games, hug and love. Next time we will talk about that acre garden in the back. It may not have been a perfect place to spend your childhood but it sure has stories to tell. Things like the time I helped my aunt to staple, yes staple, curtains in the living room and guest bedroom because the walls were so thin they would not hold rods. How for years we thought it did not have central air because it never worked only to find out some wires were not connected. Yeah, that was annoying during a southern summer working out of a garden.
Next door in a nice brick house lived my Great Aunt and her third husband (she outlived them all). She never had any children so she would come pinch our cheeks and remind us not to go into her house with our dirty feet. She was a little on the spoiled side and would drive my grandmother crazy as she was my Papa's sister and she could not just tell her to go away.
All in all we had fun, learned so many things and were loved greatly. Those are some of the most important things a growing child should have. I probably did not feel lucky then when my fingers were purple from peas but I do feel very lucky to have been there now!
It was a great trailer - some of them are you know!
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