Thinking Up Ways to Kill Tonya....

Anytime that the entire family gets together they love to tell stories about all of the goofy things that they/we have done over the decades.  One of my favorite topics that they have to laugh about was when all of the older cousins were growing up and they tried to "Think of ways to kill Tonya" who happened to be somewhat of a stool pigeon.

I think that it is worth noting that the people involved in these plots were my mother, her niece (Tonya--ignorant of said plots), her nephews--Steve, Scott, Phillip and her other niece--Diane.  It is also a point of interest that the reason my mother was running with the kids is that she was a kid herself.  My grandparents had my Uncle Herb and then 5 years later had my Aunt Martha.  After having surgery and being told she would never have any more children she had my mother 15 years later!  My mom grew up with her nieces and nephews and I think this is one of the reasons that our entire family is so close.

At any rate, one of the things that all of the kids would do was to build "Tarzan Swings" in the barn loft.  Any time that there was one that needed to be tested so that they knew it was safe, you guessed it, Tonya was the guinea pig.  On a good day Tonya survived and they knew that it was safe to use the swings.

One time Tonya had been particularly "helpful" to the others the decided to pull her around the house on her back.  Unfortunately, her shirt pulled up and she ended up with a lovely carpet burn on her back in the process.  Of course, when they realized that Tonya was hurt, they hurried to her aid so that she would be OK.  (Actually, they were VERY worried about themselves and getting in big trouble!)  My mother always said that she went straight for the bottle of alcohol because that is what her mother put on injuries.  She had Tonya bend over and she put some alcohol on her back.  To hear them recount the story: Tonya didn't even straighten up.  She stayed bent over and shot out of the room screaming like a banshee! 

Suffice it to say: no one in my family became a doctor.  I don't know if the above story was the reason or not but it definitely put the fear of God into them!  Oh, and they did get into trouble.