My
Childhood
By Gaye Gannon
Even though I was the youngest of seven children I ended up
being raised like an only child in a one-parent situation by my quite elderly
father. Would I change that-------never. I feel I had the best of both
worlds-my father all to myself, which changed the dynamics of all the previous
father/child relationships within our house dramatically, and also all the
hilarious stories now recounted on family occasions that are only vague memories
to me.
We can all relate to being bet out of bed because “The cattle are in the
vegetable garden again, stacking turf in Red Pat’s turf house and bringing the
cattle home from the field behind Sweeneys. I, though, never had the
privilege/torture of having to milk a cow or feed geese or chickens like the
older ones. I remember hearing one sister at a family gathering, admittedly
after a glass or five of ‘lemon sherbet’ state emphatically to another “Sure
you made me milk your cow while you did my homework. Is it any wonder I thought
I was thick”.
Having watched my own two grow up and hearing the “I’ll die if
I can’t play Play Station” statement on more than one occasion, I often wonder
what they would have made of my childhood, isolated, no ‘mod cons’ and elevated
to the role of housekeeper at the age of nine when Mammy died. Did it annoy
me?......Yes. Would I change it?.....not in a million years.
