Angie's Hula-hoop, Pogo Stick, and Stilts

 Since "National Walk-on -Stilts' Day" is Monday, July 27, I couldn't resist writing about my sister's stilts built by my father.

                      As a kid, my sister pursued activities to exemplify her personal best. She thrived on pushing herself to the highest level possible in these activities.

                When Angie was around seven or eight years of age, a hula-hoop craze was in full swing. She set her heart on having a hula-hoop for herself. My parents gave us gifts on our birthdays and at Christmas, but if we wanted a “big item” at a time other those special occasions, saving up for it was the order of the day for us.

                Angie seemed to always have more than one piggy bank, so I don’t recall that cash flow was ever her problem. Even as a toddler, she loved money; so to discourage her from getting into the “egg money" box – actually it was a cigar box – my mother placed a lifelike plastic spider in the box. At that time in her life, Angie had arachnophobia. As a result, my mother, the non-combative, but creative disciplinarian, found an effective deterrent to prevent Angie from pilfering through the money earned from selling the eggs. Bottom line, Angie would most assuredly conserve enough cash for the much-coveted hula-hoop.

                Since money was no object for Angie, the real obstacle for getting the longed for hula-hoop was location and distance. Angie had to get to a store that sold hula-hoops. Finally, the Saturday arrived when we would deliver eggs to the Stillwater Hatchery on Highway 51 east of Stillwater, Oklahoma. Most important for Angie, we would get a rare trip to the TG&Y downtown store in Stillwater. I recall accompanying Angie to the toy aisle so she could select a hula-hoop. Even though I was approaching my teen years, my excitement and anticipation for Angie’s purchase were unbounded. I knew how much this concentric plaything meant to Angie. She had a brief opportunity to use one at school and was convinced it was something she could master. Angie tried several of the available hula-hoops, finally, choosing an orange one that made a sound with each rotation. As I stood next to her at the check-out stand, I figured by that evening she would be setting and breaking “personal best” records on her new hula-hoop. Of course, she did.

                Then Angie set her sights on a pogo stick. It was close enough to Christmas for her to add that to her list. The pogo stick was one of her “big” gifts. My parents budgeted at Christmas and stuck with the figure. The photograph below showed Angie’s delight upon receiving one. Once again, as soon as she could, she took the pogo stick outside and began practicing so she could “bounce” for several minutes without stopping. As her family, we enjoyed watching her and encouraged her in her endeavor.

Angie in her new coat from Grandpa and Grandma Smith looks
ready to start bouncing. Notice the silver aluminum Christmas
tree with the pink ornaments.

                The set of stilts required Dad’s help. As soon as he knew that she wanted a pair, Dad began constructing them for her. In no time, Angie was upon them, parading across the front yard. She enjoyed many hours of walking fun with them. We hope to find them as we clean buildings at the farm since Dad, as a kid who survived the Great Depression, never threw anything away.

                Dad’s Depressionistic slant on economics prompted him to buy our first bicycles used from Roy Hurt's store in Fairfax. The old, beat-up, but good Schwinn bicycle is the only bike I ever owned. As soon as Angie could ride the used one that Dad bought for her, she set her sights on saving money for a brand new one, which she did,
              Mother and Dad reared us to celebrate any family success, rejoicing with each other over even small, personal victories. For this reason, we continue to work together and share elation over the smallest success on Dad’s behalf and with his care. Dad had no way to know the impact and power the stilts he built and the time he spent sitting with me as we watched Angie walk on them would have many years later in his latter years.
              Angie encouraged, almost pushed, me to submit my first manuscript to a periodical. This blog probably would have no readers had Angie not insisted that she post it weekly on FaceBook. Jokingly, usually when bailing me out of a situation with the cattle or 1,001 other things, Angie has frequently quoted from the King James Version the last part of Proverbs 17:17, with her own twist,  "A sister is born for adversity."  How true this has proven to be in our relationship!
                  “Friends love through all kinds of weather, and families stick together in all kinds of trouble.”

  Proverbs 17:17 (The Message)

“How wonderful, how beautiful, when brothers and sisters get along!”

Psalm 133:1 (The Message)