From the Archives -- Cool Chicks!

In celebration of 100 years of 4-H in North Carolina, I was contacted (as a former 4-Her) to see if I had some photographs from my years in that wonderful organization. Needless to say, I did and I've been sorting through some of them to make copies for the local Northampton county celebration. I found this photo and it was just too good for me to pass it by without sharing the photo and the history behind it.

Our parents and grandparents may have their Depression-era stories of walking two miles to school every day but my generation has its own "tough childhood" stories -- and believe me when I tell you that I'm saying this with a grain of salt. When we went to 4-H Club Congress every summer -- the highlight of our year in 4-H -- to stay on campus at N.C. State, we rode in the back of a pick-up truck. No fancy SUV with air conditioning, no DVD player, no iPod to entertain us or cell phone to text our friends. And believe me, it was HOT in July. But we thought it was wonderful and we felt so grown-up to be on our own for a week in the big city of Raleigh. Of course, it was a more innocent time than it is now but I believe we managed to get in a bit of trouble. I think one of my group sneaked in a pack of cigarettes and WE SMOKED!! If we had been caught, our 4-H leader would have probably sent us home in disgrace but we were young and daring. HA!

The photo above includes several of the group that I hung out with in high school. My good friends Phyllis and Nina Lynn Taylor, my cousin Ann Hedgepeth, and Susan Long. There are lots of signs of the times in our photo other than the model year of the truck -- Phyllis's "smiley face" shirt and, in a different photo I found, Ann and Susan are wearing their "Hang Ten" pants which was the ultimate cool. And, of course, the "Peace, Baby" sign they're flashing.

And just to bring it full circle and for those of you who are not from around here and won't know the family connections -- Susan in this photo is the mother of my fabulous "twirling in front of Old Well" bride, Melissa Flythe Decker, who was the subject of my very first blog posting.

Have a great 4th of July holiday everyone!