Pop Tarts, Jergen’s Lotion and Young Ladies of Fine Breeding

I was a military brat. My dad was in the Air Force, and we lived all over the U.S. and the Europe. We lived in the UK, Montana, Florida, Germany, Texas, and New Mexico. At my dad’s last station, we were at Holloman AFB in New Mexico. As my parents knew it was my dad’s last tour before he was going to retire, they bought a little house and planned on staying there permanently.

My mother taught 8th grade Social Studies on the base; however, since we lived in town, I went to school with the local townies.

There were always a few military families who lived in town due to lack of base housing, or if in some cases like my parents, they decided to buy their own home. I was a latch key kid and would walk to school and then walk home in the afternoon and let myself in and out. I was also an only child, so there was a big aspect of loneliness during those years.

When I was in the fifth grade the Anderson family got stationed at Holloman and ended up renting a house a few streets from where I lived. They were a lovely African American family with three daughters, including one that was my age, Wanda. Wanda and I became immediate best friends and stayed that way all through fifth and sixth grade. We were constantly in each other’s homes, having sleepovers. We were obsessed with Tiger Beat, the Jackson5, Bobby Sherman, the Osmond Brothers, and David Cassidy. Pretty much, typical little girls in 1970 just starting to become young ladies, discovering boys, and getting ready to step into womanhood.

Every single morning, I would walk from my house to Wanda’s so that we could walk to school together. And every single morning, Mrs. Anderson would greet me at the door with a Pop Tart or a piece of toast so that I would not feel left out. As I mentioned above, my mother worked, was very career oriented, and oftentimes, I had to figure out breakfast on my own, which means sometimes I did not eat breakfast. I think on some level Mrs. Anderson understood or knew this and made the kind and gracious effort to make sure that I was nurtured and taken care of.

After we finished breakfast, Mrs. Anderson would make all four of us girls line up at the front door while she slathered our arms and legs with Jergen’s lotion. Because, as she said, “Young Ladies of Fine Breeding do not leave the house with ashy legs.” Being a little white girl, I had no idea what “ashy legs” meant, but I absolutely knew I should never leave the house with them! In time, I learned, and I am so grateful to Mrs. Anderson for not only instilling a good skincare regimen in me, but also for being determined that I was going to feel included in her family. What a wonderful woman she was.

At the end of sixth grade, the Andersons were transferred, and I lost contact with them. We did not have internet and email back then and had to rely on postal mail. But to this day, I have such wonderful, beautiful memories of feeling part of the Anderson family.

And I NEVER leave the house without putting lotion on my legs on my arms. Even 50 years later! Because “Young Ladies of Fine Breeding” do not leave the house with ashy skin.

- Julie O'Hara 2023

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