The way we were

Seams to me that some people don't like talking about there past for one reason or another, but not me. I grew up poor ( in other peoples eyes ) My life was actually pretty rich with family and friends and sure we worked out in the labor camps, but it wasn't as bad as that sounds. There was always something to do after work, because we were always right next to the river. You could go swimming, fishing, chase rabbits, squirrels, climb trees and a lot of other things kids liked doing back in that time. The farmers used to have there secret stash of peaches that they used to plant in some hidden location but we always knew where they were. We would go and sit in the tree and eat our fill and you just don't find peaches that good anymore. Now this probably sounds boring to you young folks, but you would have to have lived it to understand what i'm talking about.The work was hard, but it seams that there was always something going on, snakes, bats, beehives, baby rabbits, horses. We had to deal with these things constantly. (The horses pulled the wagons we used to load with prune boxes) Saturdays were always a treat because that was payday.They would have a picnic out in the orchard. The labor camps were nothing more than a bunch of one room shacks, no plumbing ( we had to use the out house) there was one light hanging from the ceiling. My mom did all the cooking outside on a wood stove or over a camp fire, but you know what, the food was always absolutely delicious. Home made tortillas, papas, refried beans, I mean the real deal here folks, sometimes we had my moms delicious refried chicken and a bunch of other great food, now don't get me wrong, my wife is a excellent cook, but i tell her to keep it simple because if she cooked all the food my mom did i would probably weigh about 300 lbs. nuff said about that.

After work you had to take a shower in this room with this big tank overhead that had nothing but cold water in it, but being that the temperature was always around 100, I don't think anyone really cared. Us kids would sit around the camp fire at night and listen to the grown ups tell there stories, and eventually they would get around to telling ghost stories which would leave us paralyzed with fear, But the next night we would be right back out there. Some of the older guys used to like to make us younger kids fight to see who could beat who, and there was always the new guy always trying to show you how tough he was. They hardly ever picked on me but i did get in a scrape or two. My sisters would always tell my mom if we got caught fighting. My mom did not like for us to fight with each other or anyone else. My dad had a dads point of view on this, all you dads out there know what i mean.

Whenever we moved to a new camp my dad would go on ahead of us and find us the best spot available and get the old water hose and wash down the inside of the shack to get all the bugs, spiders, lizards and any other little critters he could find, out. then he would break out his fly spray pump and get rid of any mosquitoes and whatnot that was left. I got the privilege of going with him a couple of times, when you went with pop it always made you feel special, cause the others had to stay and work. You still had to help him do whatever, but that was o.k. My mom would come along next and start setting things up and make it as comfortable as possible. Now i'll tell you what, my mom was so good at taking what she had and making the best of it. My brothers and sisters can tell you that our camp always had the most people around it. Sometimes it was just to visit, other times it was some kid we brought with us cause he was hungry. Heck i remember when i was older i brought a friend of mine home with me cause his brother had been beating him up and he was afraid to go home, he ended up living with us for about two, three years when we were at the Colonia. Mom never turned anybody away that was hungry. Mom was pretty strict with us on certain things, and i'll tell you what, i'm very thankful she was, because if she wasn't, there's just no telling what i would have turned out like. My dad only stepped in when mom asked him to or he seen we were getting a little too big for our britches. You just never wanted to put yourself in that situation. My dad wasn't mean, he just knew how to handle us. I couldn't have asked for better parents.

The labor camps were always jumping on Saturday nights, Because you always have people there from all over California that came for the harvest. Young women, young men, cool cars and great 45 records playing on the Hi FI ( 45 is a record type,not a gun ) always made for a great party. There was always a chaperon. We still had lots of fun, there was always someone who got drunk and made a fool of themselves, I think thats still the case today, It's just that the people handle there problems differently. I always hated to see the summer come to an end, your new friends went back to where ever they were from, and our town went back to the way it was.

The winters were always hard because us kids usually had to walk to school. ( about two miles round trip) even though the bus went right by our house. Dad didn't work much in the winter but mom always found a way to put food on the table. A lot of times it was just beans papas and tortillas. There still my favorites today.

This country has gotten pretty spoiled, we need to realize just how great this country is and be thankful for what we have and not complain about the things we don't have. I call myself a Chicano, what this means to me is that i'm Mexican and American and very proud of it.