Carol, My dad was born in Montague County, Texas, in 1919 (just across the border from western Love County and Jefferson County) and he was old enough when the Dust Bowl years hit to remember them somewhat, but he wouldn't talk about them much. Both his parents died in the early to mid-1930s and the kids stayed together (an uncle on the farm next door had legal guardianship and bought them each a new pair of shoes every year) and virtually raised themselves. There were 13 of them. I remember they said the sand filled up their storm cellar and they couldn't use it until they'd cleaned it out. It also ruint their crops and they had very little to eat during those years, mostly pinto beans and corn. For my dad's family, poverty was a constant until World War II came along and, one by one, they left the farm to enter the military or to work in defense plants like Consolidated Vultee (later General Dynamics and now Lockheed-Martin). None of them ever went back to the country really, except the oldest aunt had a few acres in Haltom City in the 1950s-1970s and raised a huge garden every year. They wouldn't talk about those Dust Bowl years much except to talk about how the people suffered, and you had to ask them to get them to talk about those days at all. I think they just put the 'bad times' behind them and kept on going. All of them were fruit and vegetable gardeners and all of them loved rural north central Texas and southern OK along the Red River despite their difficult lives there when they were younger. My dad felt like the Dust Bowl 'ruined' their chances to be farmers because it made them feel like they'd never get ahead and stay there. Imp, I felt the same way about 'The Worst Bad Time"---it was so sad and so depressing and just so hard to read and hard to 'digest' both intellectually and emotionally because of the depth of the suffering and damage. Until then, I really didn't understand the people's suffering. I understood the financial ruin it brought to so many families, and I understood the great migration of the "Okies" to California and elsewhere looking for a better life (two of my uncles went to Cali and never came back) but I didn't understand the death and the illnesses and, as you mentioned, chronic lung conditions that folks had for many years which probably did originate with their inhalation of all that dust back then. I thought it was irresponsible farming techniques too, and in a way it was, but the farmers themselves were encouraged by the government to use those methods. Listening to the old timers talk about it decades later, I got the impression many of them felt betrayed by the goverment. After all, they did what the government wanted them to do and they did it the way the government told them to do it, and look what happened! Hindsight is always 20-20, isn't it? One of the oldtimers here, who was 87 years old, I think, when we moved here in 1999, stood on our property with its towering trees and told me that when his family came to Oklahoma by covered wagon in the earliest 1900s, there were no trees except along the Red River. I asked him where the trees had gone, and he said everyone cut them for building material, fence posts, and firewood until none were left. He remembers traveling to the Red River in a farm wagon to spend a day cutting young trees (there weren't any old ones left) for firewood. He also talked about how the land eroded later because, of course, there were no tree roots left to hold the soil and because everything was plowed and bare. He remembered erosion beting a huge problem until at least the 1950s. Jay, My dad never lost his great affection for wild foods you could forage, and always loved finding 'poke sallet', dandelion greens, purslane, and stuff like that in the spring. His favorite was lambs quarters. He said without them, they would have starved. When I was a teenager and he would tell me that, I'd think to myself that I'd rather starve than eat purslane and lambs quarters! Now, when our lambsquarters pop up in the spring, I always think how thrilled my dad would be to see them. They also made lots of prickly pear jelly if they could barter to get the sugar (usually they used sorghum syrup or molasses) to sweet the jelly. Apparently the prickley pear did just fine in those years. Your story about the bathtubs reminded me of my dad telling me those stories too. Apparently in his family, rank had its privilege and age gave you rank. He was the third youngest and the second youngest to survive to adult hood, and he was at the end of the line when it came to baths. He said he was in the Navy and in his late teens before he knew what it was like to bathe with 'new' water that hadn't already been used by everyone else. We always got an orange in our Christmas stockings because that orange reminded my dad of his childhood Christmases when the orange in their stocking was their one and only present and they loved those oranges and ate them slowly because they were a once-a-year treat. The town where my dad grew up is pretty much a ghost town now, but we go back to the cemetary once every few years. If the ghosts could talk, what stories they could tell us now. Dawn

Yes, it's my Adrianne Pappel in navy. Of course I won't wear pedal pusher leggings. LOL! I will go to JC Penney to see what they offer in terms of something like those Spanx. Not one store in my town carries Spanx. My tiny JC Penney store means slim pickings. It's not the 70 degrees I worry about. It's an evening wedding and we'll stay until 11 PM. We're all (bride's family) staying at a Hilton nearby and we'll be shuttled to and from the wedding so the wine will be flowing. :+) My DH's Italian family really knows how to party, I'll give them that! Whenever we get together, it's a blast. Guess if I have enough wine, the alcohol will keep me warm. Caroloh, don't say dancing on tables... I don't need that idea anywhere in my brain after three drinks. LOL!

It's a Dad's right to worry about the kids, especially daughters...But they will be fine...When DH and I were married, 54 years ago, we bought our 1st house from his aunt and paid $6000...It was the family home, 13 rooms, and we paid her $40.00 monthly until it was paid off...After all 5 kids were gone, we moved next door into mother in laws 5 room house and paid DHs brother and sister a small amount...We've never had a mortgage which seems strange...I wonder if we could get one now, at our age..... Best wishes to the happy couple, let the happy tears flow...

Thanks everyone. Patti you may be right about the cream vs the white. I am a pale-skinned, freckled redhead and even though i do have a lot of white blouses, I really do not look good in white. And I love Steinmart! I think I will stop in there tomorrow and also there is a TJMAXX in the same shopping center. I am 60 yrs old, tall, but 30 pounds overweight (recently lost 35, 30 more to go) and busty, I was thinking a print might make me look fatter. I have a cute new top that is a leopard print, but wondered if it would be too much! My DD tells me I dress too much like an old lady, well I am one. Maybe I will pick up a couple tops and have a pre-party fashion show for DH and DD. I appreciate the great ideas!