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Memories of after-lunch stories

By John A. Koehn

The earliest scene I can remember happened when I was approximately three years old (1989) at our home in Petty, Texas.

My mother, Catherine Leah Kanagy Koehn, quit working when her children were born so she could care for them. During my growing-up years, she would read stories to me, such as tales of Johnny Appleseed or Davy Crockett, almost every day after lunch, and I remember sitting beside her on the couch as she read to me.

While she read to me, she was feeding my sister, Melody, a little girl with blue eyes and blonde hair who was about two years younger than me. I remember the sun shining down on us through the south window and how good it felt. I remember thinking how pretty Melody looked with the sun shining down on her face as Mama held her. I remember feeling happy because I had a sister.

I do not know why this one scene stands out to me, because it happened nearly every day. I suppose I was becoming aware of how I loved others in my family and that they loved me. It has remained with me, as I have grown older, because it seemed special to me, an almost perfect picture, a symbol of what a home should be.

John A. Koehn is a freshman foreign language student from Sumner, Texas.

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