Afterthoughts

     The year 1967 happened to be the roughest year our family of six had ever experienced.  My husband worked hard as a bull dozer operator, but in the late fall and early winter things slowed  down. Yet we always had enough money for groceries, so each week I traveled nine miles from Milano, TX. to Rockdale, TX. to a Brookshire's store.      A couple of months before Christmas they had a contest giving away green stamps. One afternoon while shopping, the store manager went to the office and brought me a sealed envelope with a ticket inside.  When I went there after the contest ended, she asked,  "Have you turned your ticket in?"  Since I didn't have it with me, I answered, "No!" As she walked away, she looked back at me and said, "Be sure you do."      When I got home, I steamed the envelope open, and inside were the words 55,000 green stamps. With excitement as quick as I could, I rushed back to the store to claim the unexpected windfall that wo