Remembering my uncle’s large fields of cotton. I was very young during this time and along with his three children, my sisters and my brother along with my cousins were coaxed into picking the fields for spare change according to the number of pounds picked.

To entice us even further, we would be awarded a bottle of Coke and a Hershey bar. I recall the stalks of cotton in most cases were taller than me. It was convenient as I didn’t have to reach through the rough foliage. Also, at my height, i could see what lay beneath the shadows of the stalks. It was not hard work, but it is engraved in my youth.