Page 43 - Self Talk

dinner would be waiting, no matter how long it took to finish the job.
The day finally came. The one we had worked so hard
and long for. Mother proudly announced at breakfast that our yard had been chosen, chosen over hundreds of others because it was the finest, most meticulously groomed in all of Radford Terrace. We had to hurry, eat our breakfast quickly, take our baths and get dressed.
And no crying or complaining over the clothes she neatly laid out on our beds. This was a very important day, one that we would remember. Forever.
We all stood in a neat straight line in our award-winning yard. My father in his dress blues, spit-polished shoes and white sailor hat with the brim crimped in a way that