Old Screen Doors Slamming… Best Memory Sound

Dear Reader:

When I came across this picture …if was as if I had been transported back to Grandmother Wilson’s kitchen and her back screen door… it looks just like it! What nostalgic memories it provokes.

I remember Grandmother ALWAYS screaming at the last grandchild leaving… ” Don’t slam the door!” ( All for naught… it always was slammed. One time , when I was the last one out and the culprit for forgetting to grab the door in time… again… I courageously peeked back in… and was totally surprised.

Grandmother was enjoying her morning coffee ( one of her few idle delights of the day… and did grimace as the door slammed… but then to my shock… a glimmer of a smile escaped her face.) It was as if she sensed that too soon that raggedy screen door (that she could repair with chicken wire and one hand tied behind her in no time flat) would grow silent and she would yearn for the giggles and slams again… followed by “Sorry!”

The on-going heroine Chief Inspector Armand Gamache in the latest Louise Penny murder mystery ( The World of Curiosities) best yet… 👍💗… made this keen observation too after spending time with his family and grandchildren at their lake house.

He wrote: ” The slamming of a screen door-best sound ever! It meant children awake and playing… it meant all was right with the world.”

Upon Gamache and his loving wife-Reine – Marie returning to their home… once the site of imprisoned terror… they held hands… waiting to see what their reaction to the brutal invasion would have on their psyches… instead their home smelled like home… coffee, wood, pine, bee balm, and vases and vases of perennials ( roses and lavender) so soothing to the senses… peace and calm and happy spirits welcomed them back.

If the perennials could survive harsh Canadian landfalls… then they could too and continue blooming in peace.

Today screen doors have gone ” retro” … young couples are using their creativity for continuing projects with the chicken wire. ( Photo cabinets) Hanging Lamps

Today is my favorite day -Winnie the Pooh

About Becky Dingle

I was born a Tarheel but ended up a Sandlapper. My grandparents were cotton farmers in Laurens, South Carolina and it was in my grandmother’s house that my love of storytelling began beside an old Franklin stove. When I graduated from Laurens High School, I attended Erskine College (Due West of what?) and would later get my Masters Degree in Education/Social Studies from Charleston Southern. I am presently an adjunct professor/clinical supervisor at CSU and have also taught at the College of Charleston. For 28 years I taught Social Studies through storytelling. My philosophy matched Rudyard Kipling’s quote: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” Today I still spread this message through workshops and presentations throughout the state. The secret of success in teaching social studies is always in the story. I want to keep learning and being surprised by life…it is the greatest teacher. Like Kermit said, “When you’re green you grow, when you’re ripe you rot.”

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