Day: November 20, 2019

Back when I was in fifth grade…I remember Mrs. Ponder was my teacher. I remember her as being pretty severe. I remember being in her class one day, and I sat next to my friend “Barbecue” He a little magazine that was kind of a”girlie” kinda’ thing and was looking at it. Somebody on the other side of me wanted to see it, and just as I was passing it….Mrs. Ponder walked in. I was caught red handed AND red faced. You can try to explain your way out of something like that…but as a 5th grade boy there ain’t no way. So I had to go see Ms. Ethel….that wasn’t a good year for me cause I misbehaved in class a lot of other times too. Most of the time Mrs. Ponder made us write long hand on sheets of ruled notebook paper: “I will not misbehave in class” 500 times. You may think it that it’s not much…but just try it out sometime. Mind numbing and wrist rubbing monotony. Now..I have said that to say this: When it comes to FB I am going to write 500 times…”I will not comment on political posts” “I will not comment on political posts” “I will not…..heck….I don’t think I can do it. I think I am going to go hunt me up some notebook paper now….

Oh my Lord, I kept liking those posts where people are putting up “secret” things that people don’t know about them and one of my friends has given me the number 7. Should I be a good sport and do it? I’m not sure I can think of that many things.

1. I once rode my bicycle down the steps and busted my head open. I don’t know what I was thinking. I also had a high fever the year before and had extremely crossed eyes. They thought it was going to be permanent, but they finally uncrossed on their own.

2. My favorite reading genre is Fantasy. I’m a big fan of George R.R. Martin, R.A. Salvatore, etc.

3. I wanted to be a poet when I was growing up. My Dad told me there was no money in it. I ended up poor anyway, so I should have just followed my dream.

4. I love movies that make your cry. Old Yeller still gets me every time.

5. I’m afraid of flying, though I have done it a lot.

6. I didn’t see the ocean until I was 15 years old.

7. I once won an all-expense paid trip to one of 10 cities in Europe on a radio contest. It was WSB, and it was on a trivia contest. The questions which I answered to get my “name in the pot” was: Who was Mrs. Hungary of 1957? The answer: Zsa Zsa Gabor. We ended up going to Greece although we first wanted to go to Vienna Austria. We could only go in October and Vienna was booked up due to “Oktoberfest” Loved Greece though..

The holiday season is a double edged sword. Oh how I love these days between now and the new year. These are times of the gatherings of family. These are the times of great meals and food…familiar dishes and recipes send wonderful, memory jogging smells through the air.

They pick me up and take me back once more, to the place in time where old memories are stored.

I’m at Grandma and Grandpa’s old clapboard house, and Granny has the table ready. Most of the Aunts, Uncles and cousins are already there, but there’s always a late comer or two. It might be Uncle Jack, and Aunt Kay and their boys this year….but everyone finally makes it there. We all gather round that big old wooden table…so many of us. All scattered now, and so many gone, but the memory lives.

Then I think of the days when my family was young. I had never heard of stuffing a turkey before Paula and I got married, but oh how delicious that stuffing was…and is still. I like a pan of cornbread dressing too, but I can’t wait for that delicious stuffing…my dear mother in laws recipe….I cannot believe she has been gone so many years now. It doesn’t seem possible…

I think of the times with Mom and Dad, not particularly the days when Mike and I were kids, but their very last Thanksgiving meal with us, over there in their own house on 7th street in 2009. We had moved into their house and they were in Assisted living. We went up and brought them down for the meal. Momma kept asking where their stuff was. She couldn’t understand that things had not been left the same as when they had moved out. She was always planning on coming back! Daddy just ate like he was starving, and asking for more sweet tea. Then 2010 came and we lost them.

And so there is the bittersweet of this time of year. Time passes by and people pass on, as the old Kathy Mattea song says.

So as my wife and I walk through this 65th year’s holiday season I will rejoice in all that we share together, my wonderful family and good friends! Let’s eat some turkey, and open some presents and pass the love around and back again. Let’s make some great memories together. After all that is what makes us who we are.