Sunday, May 2, 2010

Hickory Tea

It all starts when we are born, experiences and lessons that shape who we are to become; I began life as a normal sized kid with long black hair that had to be cut by the time I was six weeks old, all the normal stuff happened to me simple things like swallowing nails and cutting myself on everything you can imagine, you all remember doing things like this to your parents, and feeling the need to apologize to them once in a while now for doing some of this stuff, I have heard stories I don’t quite remember and others I just don’t really like to talk about.

“Hickory Tea” is one all the family thinks is funny and I suppose I am old enough now to laugh about it, when I was young it was common to keep what my Mom called a hickory laying around just in case she needed it, a hickory if you were never exposed to one is a switch, hickory switch, or what ever else they may be called, a hickory is a small flexible piece of wood actually a small branch off of a bush or tree, these were just small switches but in our minds as youngsters they were huge and could break a leg with one swing but you know how our minds over exaggerated things back then, hickory switches were used to spank the kids, Mom would give us a taste of the hickory across the back of our legs and we usually got the point with one little taste of the hickory, now before anyone gets carried away I will give you a little disclaimer:

“During the period of time I was growing up, no children including myself were harmed due to tasting a hickory switch even though at the time we thought we were being killed no one actually was and Moms everywhere who properly used this device raised well adjusted kids, my Mom was always proper so I will claim I am adjusted well”

Now back to the story, I was pretty small at the time not in school yet and my brother who is a year younger wasn’t old enough to keep up with me, I was at the neighbors house playing with the kids when Mom came out on the porch and yelled for me to come home, I actually remember telling her No and that I was playing, it probably made me think I looked pretty big in front of the other kids telling her No, well in the very near future I would realize when Mom called I had better come running. Mom had gone back into the house and came back out with my brother on her hip and a hickory in her hand, now I knew what this meant as she just didn’t carry it around just to make her look good, she yelled for me again and my response was just like before No, she came down the steps and called me again, I thought this was pretty funny so it became a game to me, I began going the other direction towards the road and would stop to tell her No when she called my name, I remember laughing and saying No when she called my name, then on one turn she was gone I just knew she had gotten tired of the game and I had won, or so I thought.

Mom comes back out the door but this time she does not have my brother, she asked if I was thirsty, she now had my attention, she asked would you like some Hickory Tea I always did love sweet tea and Mom always had a pitcher made, heck she probably has one made right now, so I told her Yes and she said well meet me in the driveway and I’ll give you some, I probably thought she had some special tea made not knowing that she actually did and just for me, I ran to meet her in the driveway and got a taste of the hickory all the way home, as I said before the next time she called I came running and she didn’t even have to offer Hickory tea.

My youngest sister is eight years younger than me and as the youngest or the baby of the bunch you just know she rarely got spanked, I had flashbacks to my earlier experience when she was in kindergarten and was next door playing with Greg the neighbor boy, Mom had lunch ready and came out on the porch to call her home, I was sitting on the porch swing when Mom called “Melinda come home” and Melinda replied “No I’m playing” Mom goes back into the house and came back holding a hickory behind her back----Now I really don’t have to tell the rest of the story do I? And yes I am grinning right now.

18 comments:

  1. I remember well, the fear of the dreaded hickory switch!

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  2. Oh Moms know all the tricks, don't they?? Did you ever fall for this again???

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  3. Hmmm...hickory tea. I will have to remember that.

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  4. Hey Ms A,

    The old hickory switch kept a lot of us on the straight and narrow, don't think we will ever forget it huh

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  5. Hey Betty,

    Yes Mam As a Mom I suppose you have to use a big bag of tricks to get us raised, I most always learned from my mistakes and Hickory Tea is one I remembered.

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  6. Yes Sir it is a good one to remember Joe, I know of at least two it worked on---

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  7. I was never spanked but my husband was...his dad used a belt. He was given three chances and if he did something the third time he got the belt. He believes this shaped his personality into becoming a great litigator. He knows just how far to push and push a person before the belt or the hickory switch comes out.

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  8. Hey Susie,

    I actually didn't get spanked that much, I suppose like your husband I learned at an early age just how much was too much, No spankings for you I see another thing you and Cindy have in common now :^)

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  9. OMG...what a WONDERFUL story, Jimmy!

    LOVED your last two sentences....HA!

    And it was interesting to hear about the hickory switches because I had no idea.

    You and I sounded like the same type of kid growing up. My mother use to call me her "Little Devil." And trust me, I WAS!

    Like Susie's husband, I got the belt now and then. Both my parents were pretty lenient and easy-going, however they knew sometimes that they needed to be stern, so out came the belt. My father told me, years and years later, that it he always felt horrible doing it because he was such a softie.

    Hope you had a super weekend, my friend!

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  10. Hey Ron,

    Kind of funny to watch a younger sibling learn a lesson you have already learned Ha Ha

    I suppose we all pushed it a bit far at times but thats OK we all survived and being a little devil at times just kept Mom on her toes shhhh don't tell her I said that.

    Good Weekend so far my Friend hope yours was even better.

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  11. Im still snorting from the part where you say "simple things like swallowing nails"

    Your stories crack me up Jimmy, keep em comin!

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  12. Thank You Sarah,

    See you understand the swallowing nails comment, it's pretty easy to accidently do especially for youngsters Ha Ha, I haven't done it lately though.

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  13. Oh man you are going to give me nightmares!
    My mom had a willow switch and eventually it got lost.hehe. Then my mom would make me go get my own switch off of the closest tree. I would come back with the thickest one I could pull off. I would rather have one big mark than the stinging of the littler ones. LOL! AND my mom could never spank my butt, it was always the back of my legs!

    My baby sister never got spanked, I would love to have seen her get hers for once. I would totally be grinning too!

    Loved this post, but now fear sleep!

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  14. I know all about the hickory switch...not that it was ever used on me! Seriously, I didn't get spanked but the others did! I was a quick learner fro watching the others and oh, I was the baby!But everybody's Mama and Gramma and Aunt had a switch or if you were "lucky" that let you get your own to be used on you! Our middle school principle had a wooden board with holes in it (or so the rumor was!) that he used on students! Actually, they allowed it back then!

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  15. My parents never used a switch, but a hand works just as well! And in case you haven't guessed, I was a stubborn little thing, so I got spanked a fair bit.

    I only ever spanked my kids when they were doing something dangerous to themselves or others. The threat and the tone of voice were always enough.

    Great story Jimmy.
    ♥Spot

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  16. Hey Heather,

    Sorry about the nightmares but it does seem the favorite spot that got our attention was the back of the legs, I too remember going to get a switch and it was best to get the right one the first time.

    Yea I still grin when I think of the younger ones making the same mistakes I did---like they could get away with it Ha Ha

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  17. Yes Suzicate I remember everyone having one laying handy just in case and back then it was OK to correct which ever child needed corrected at the time, too bad people can't do that anymore really.

    My wife is also the baby of her family so I hear the same from her as you pointed out of learning from the others mistakes, I was the oldest so I guess I had to be the first to mess up Ha Ha

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  18. Hey Spot,

    You being a stubborn little thing? I never would have figured Ha Ha

    The tone of voice works well and eliminates a lot of spankings if the child knows you are serious.

    Thank You Spot

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