Flashbacks 1984 & 1985

I will never forget the experience that my older brother & I had spending a week with different families back in 1984. Me at 6 and my older brother at 10 were in Children's church at The Full Gospel Interdenominational Church in Manchester. I stayed with a family who also attended The Full Gospel Interdenominational Church and the family who I stayed with at the time lived in Ellington. Your parent or parents had to adjust as well as you adjusting spending a week away from home. When you are staying with a family, usually after a couple of days you wrote your parent or parents and told him or her or both of your parents how things were going where you were staying at. The family who I stayed with had a really beautiful house, they had 3 or 4  color TV's (one in every room). The family who I stayed with had a son and a daughter who had their own room and I observed how they did things as a family (they were such a tight knit family). When it came time to eat breakfast the family ate Pancakes, Belgium waffles, bacon, eggs benedict, toast, etc., this was completely opposite of how me and my family lived. My brother and the family he stayed with things were the complete opposite from the family I stayed with (my brother mentioned in his postcard to our mom that the family he stayed with didn't have a telephone or a TV). The family who I stayed with showed me around the house and when it came time to show me the guest room (which looked like a bedroom) where I would be staying at I really felt at home in the families' house. I enjoyed staying with the family I was staying with so much that I sent my mom a postcard telling my mom how much I really loved everything. I had a chance to meet the family who I stayed with next door neighbors and their next door neighbor's had a black lab in his dog house and the dog was tied up on his leash. I remember the family who I stayed with all petted their neighbor's dog and I remember when I petted the neighbor's dog and how the neighbor's dog was licking me, the dog was glad to meet me. I'm the only black little boy in a town surrounded by predominantly non-blacks and the family who I stayed with made me feel like part of their family (the Reverend who baptized me was Canadian so you can understand why diversity was so embraced at the church I attended). I got to the place where I enjoyed being around the family I stayed with so much I started to feel homesick and miss how things are with my family (it's possible to enjoy being around people too much especially if things are different from what you are used to). I will never forget, it was the last day that I would get to hang out with the family I stayed with. I remember we all got dressed up and were preparing to go to Buckland Hills Mall in Manchester and we were all going out to eat for lunch too. I was being stubborn and told the family who I stayed with that after we ate breakfast (6 AM or 7 AM or 7:30 AM or later that morning) and said "I don't want to go to the mall I want to stay here and watch Sesame Street."(I was watching their color TV with the family who I was staying with in the living room) I was put up to this by their son, too because he told me that all the neighbors were going to do is have us try on clothes and get all excited and tell us how cute we look in our outfits. The mom & dad of the family who I stayed with told me, "You are going to go to mall. In this house we do things together as a family and we got dressed up for that very reason!" I responded, "But I want to stay here and watch Sesame Street!" The mom & dad of that family who I stayed with answered, "Then you can write a letter to your mom and tell her how you want to go back home, how you don't like it here anymore, and it's because you don't want to go to the mall that we all were planning on going to and eating out for lunch and we will take you home!" The mom (Sister Hope) of the family who I stayed with had given me a pen and a big sheet of paper to write a letter to my mom. I remember how foolish I was acting and began to bawl and as I began to write a sentence or two, I remember saying to the family I was staying with, "I love it here please don't make me write a letter to my mom because if I go back home I will get in trouble for acting up with y'all." (My mom would have torn my behind up with the belt) The family all could see how sincere I was and I even apologized and promised I would go to the mall with them; the mom & dad of the family who I stayed with greeted me and took the pen & paper from me and I remember them reading the letter saying to me "Of course we don't want to send this letter to your mom, we are going to the mall lets go to the mall!" I remember the family who I stayed with & their next door neighbor's; all of us went to the mall together and the family who I stayed with bought me & their children some outfits as well as the neighbors bought us all some outfits at Buckland Hills mall and we all went out to eat for lunch. Staying with a family will always be priceless because we all learn from each other despite being from different backgrounds. The mom, the dad, and the daughter were excited but the son not so much because he was not too thrilled about going to the mall.

The family who I stayed with in 1984 knew how quiet I was and really knew that watching TV was one of the things that made me be really good! They also knew that too much TV could be bad if you are addicted to it. 

As much as I have been to this big mall I will never forget the time I went with the family I stayed with a week back in 1984.

I will never forget it, it was 1985. My family wanted to help the other family deliver newspapers. It was a very interesting story. The family attended The Full Gospel Interdenominational Church that my family attended. Well, I knew their children really well because me at 7 and my older brother at 11 knew their children (son and daughter who were about my age and older) in children's church. "It's a small world" like they say (They were the same family who I stayed with for a week who lives in Ellington). My family didn't really have anything to do. It was nothing for us to take time out of our day and we didn't mind at all helping out. The family had loads of newspapers and we were all going to cover the routes where the newspapers needed to be delivered at. We didn't want to leave the family stuck with the entire load so as humble servants we agreed to help them out! So my mom, older brother, and me split up the newspapers by taking turns tossing them in front of people's house's. We knew that we were going to spend the whole day so why not collectively work together to get done as soon as possible. The family we helped admired how we were working together and they appreciated us helping them do this. I saw this as a job at 7; in fact the family we helped agreed to pay us half of what they got for delivering the newspapers (nothing but God).

I was enjoying delivering papers to houses, I felt like a paper boy. My mom and my older brother admired how well of a job I was doing delivering the newspapers. At that very moment, I felt like I was a paper boy. The family we helped would drive by the different areas and we would follow behind them in our car. What really made this job so fun was that the family we were helping had such a meek & humble Spirit (not everyone we work with displays this kind of attitude). The family we were helping deliver papers noticed how hungry we were because they got hungry after delivering papers for like 8 hours and they felt led to be a blessing to us. The family who we helped decided that it would be a wonderful idea if they treated us out for Pizza at Pizza Hut in Bloomfield. Wow, the Lord works in mysterious ways because we were thinking that we would have to treat ourselves. The Bible verse that comes to mind is Galatians 5:13 and it simply says, "For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another." I think my family & the family we helped has the same meek & humble Spirit; we worked together as a team to deliver all of the newspapers to the respective recipients. My attitude from that day forward was to have an attitude of a servant. The family we helped thanked us and let us all know how much they appreciated us for helping them. We all enjoyed large Pizza's and sodas at Pizza Hut!

What made it such a great experience helping this family deliver the newspapers was that I wanted to spend the day helping them because I wanted to show them how much I appreciated what they did for me treating me like I was one of their children. They were grateful & I wanted that family to know how much I appreciate them for showing me a new but an effective way for family to bond together.

I really enjoyed helping deliver newspapers. I will never forget the fun I had in 1985.

Not everyday do the Lord put it on people's hearts to treat your family at Pizza Hut.