Growing up in Sandy

Mom told us about how much fun summers were in Sandy.  She said  they would put on plays in their back yard, and one summer Uncle Egon and his friend decided to have a circus.  They took flyers around to all the neighbor kids inviting them to come, then they put on their show.  Uncle Egon had a trained dog who did tricks, and for one of the other acts he got mom and Aunt Amy to stage a boxing match.  Even though Aunt Amy was a year older than mom, she was smaller, so the plan was that they would box for a little while, then Aunt Amy would fake punch out mom.  Only when they actually put on the show, Aunt Amy hit mom and it made mom mad so she punched out Aunt Amy instead.

Uncle Egon was mom’s big brother, and sort of a tease.  Mom liked to tell us about the time that Grandma Johnson went to visit Aunt Eloise, mom’s oldest sister, who was grown by then and living in California.  Aunt Ejvor, the next oldest sister, and Uncle Egon were old enough to take care of the younger kids.  Aunt Amy and Mom were perfectly happy playing around outside, until Uncle Egon and his friend decided to go inside the house and lock the door and tell the girls they couldn’t come in.  Then suddenly Aunt Amy and Mom really needed to use the bathroom, and they couldn’t get inside.  It made them so mad!  Mom said when she was little she was certain Uncle Egon was going to grow up to be a gangster.  She always laughed when she told us that, because Uncle Egon really grew up to be an orthopedic doctor, and she was always very proud of him.

One summer mom told us that they had some sparklers they wanted to light, but it wasn’t night time and they weren’t pretty unless it was dark.  So the kids went into the bathroom, closed the door, and lit the sparklers.  They caught Aunt Ejvor’s dress on fire, but Uncle Egon grabbed the bathroom rug and rolled her up and put it out.

When mom was really little they were playing tag or keep away in the family room while Grandma  ironed.  Grandma told them to stay away from the ironing board, but in the fun of being chased mom ran under it, knocking the old iron off.  It fell on her and slid down her back, burning her badly.