Home at Last

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Painting by DiVoran Lites

After I was born, one of my first visitors was my great-grandmother from Illinois, Hester. She was my Granddad’s mother who came all the way to Colorado, then to Nevada for a family get-together. Grandma Bowers was blind, so she came with other family members.

Dora had one regret about the visit. Great-grandmother wanted to hold me, but Dora had strict instructions from the doctor not to pick me up or let anyone else pick me up between feedings, which were every four hours. Great-Grandmother stood by my bassinet (a bath for a baby) while Mother bathed me. The tiny blind lady moved close to the legs of the bassinet and rocked it with her knee. Once Dora became more experienced she realized it couldn’t have hurt to let an old blind grandmother hold her baby granddaughter.Fortunately,I got to meet her when I was twelve and Grandmother and Granddad took me to Illinois for a visit.

Dora didn’t work all the time. Sometimes she and dad went for walks in the desert hills around the town. Dad probably fished in the pond. That was where Mother liked to swim in the days of warm weather before I was born. She was surprised that I didn’t grow up terrified of snakes, as she often saw them swimming by.

Mother liked to take me out in my buggy for walks. One day she saw a nest under a bush and stopped to inspect it. When she saw some very small mice playing she took me out of the buggy and held me where I could watch the babies play.

We had a Setter called Red. The Doctor had told them to bundle me up and put me out in the sun for part of each day. It was a safe, small town, so they left Red to watch over me while I slept.

Photo by Ryan Stone on Unsplash

One day when mother was home alone a small fire got started somehow. She grabbed me and ran over to Walkama’s across the street and asked her to look after me until she got the fire out.

I wish I had more details, but I think once our folks are gone, we have many questions we wish we had asked while they were still with us. I do have to say, though, both Ivan and Dora were excellent story-tellers, and I’ve so grateful for that rich heritage.

DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn.  She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”

Tags: Childhood Memories