Old School

I come from an old family. As in very old. My grandparents were old enough to be my great-grandparents; my aunts, to be my great-aunts; and my mother, to be my youngest sister's grandmother. Their values and belief systems were even older than their years. And they imposed their old-fashioned ways on us children who were born so much later than their time.

Let me just give you a few examples of their rules...

1. No loud voices. Anytime. Anywhere in the house.
   
2. No sitting with feet, legs apart.
3. No elbows on the dining table.
4. No talking while eating. (It didn't matter whether your mouth was full or not.)
5. No running.
   
6. No slouching.
7. No butting in when adults were engaged in conversation.
8. Oh yes, no cokes.
   

And a lot of other no-nos...

We were little girls with the big responsibility of behaving like ladies, like yesterday's Maria Claras. It seemed to me they wanted us to act like nuns in a convent! Come to think of it, my folks were far more strict than the Sisters who ran the Catholic school where Pie and I were students.