The Chronicles of Janie

Anyone who knows me well at all could tell you that I have a great fascination for all things non-American. I'm sorry, fellow Americans, but I think that we really missed out on a lot of cool things. Part of the problem is that we're such a young nation. We don't have the ancient, deeply ingrained cultural traditions that most countries seem to. The Indians...oh, excuse me, I must be correct and call them Native Americans...did, but we seemed to have pretty effectually squelched them down. Anyroad, I'm not writing this to complain about living in America. I'm wanting to chronicle my adventures at the Festival of Nations in St. Louis. The festival ran all day long on both the 28th (Saturday) and the 29th (Sunday). I went with Joe and Charissa the first day, and my folks and I went after church on Sunday. Attending a festival with the Coyles is very different from going with my parents. Joe and Charissa take shortcuts, walking on the grass whenever possible. Going ...

"The dark ages when there were four little Smith girls running around the house." was how Dad described it. To me, eleven-and-a-half years younger than my closest sister, they are indeed 'dark ages'. My earliest memory, from when I was two, is of my oldest sister returning from Mexico. Mostly, I remember my sisters as pleasant, industrious adults who sang a lot. I remember 'helping' them weed the garden, milk the goats, bake bread, and clean the house. I love those memories, and wouldn't change them for anything, but there are days when I wish I could travel backwards in time. I would like to have the opportunity of viewing those years with my more mature perceptions. There are so many things that I missed. For example, I hadn't the foggiest notion that all those nice young men came to our house for any other reason than to entertain me and my little brother. I liked them all immensely, but was very surprised when they started marrying my sisters. We ...