Honey opened up this am and spoke of his father .His father told him onetime that as a young boy, he and some of the other boys his age, put a wagon on top of a house on Halloween!!! I asked him if he said anything about being caught. Honey said "I don't think they got caught" They laughed about it later he claimed. The place where they lived was as far back as one could go without going to the end of the world!!! Honey took me to his place of birth as he like me was born at home. We drove the 2 lane paved road until we hit the gravel road ...which then turned into a dirt road. Back back into the woods we went.! Nothing was there but some trees, undergrowth and some faint print of where someone had lived at one time. Honey's father told him that one time as a very young boy he and his father were going somewhere in the horse and buggy (yes horse and buggy) and it became so dark. Honey's father said he got so scared but then his father put his arms around him and comforted him.." its alright son, I'm here" Granddaddy said it made him feel so good and safe. No worries for him that night!
I remember honeys father speaking often of things that happened in Fall City Alabama. He spoke of being on the high school football team, doing exercises every day as if he was playing football through his 80"s . Stopping only the last month or two before he died. He would show us sometimes how he got on the floor and doing sit ups among other things. It kept him young at heart! Plus his health benefiting.
He loved music, learning the shape note music and then teaching the shape note music to others at schools and churches. . That is how he met his lovely wife Miss Ada Mary Williams. He was teaching the music at the Hickory Grove Church of the Nazarene , becoming smitten with her. She was a beautiful young widow whose first husband was killed on a logging job. She was so young. They hit it off and became married some time later. Honey was born the next year ...1939...a good year!
He tells of seeing a picture of a baby on the wall of their home and asking his mother" who is that pitiful looking baby?" "Why my son.... that is you!" "Boy was I surprised !" Actually it is a beautiful picture of a baby boy! I am prejudiced I am sure!!! Honey tells that he remembers crawling on the floor and seeing holes in the wood floor. His mother said that if something was missing that is where she would go..to the knot holes!!! They didn't believe him that he remembered such trivia, but he often mentions of things that only he would know.
There wasn't a bathroom or running water in that first home in Fall City. Can you imagine having to go outside to a bathroom? No running water? Only a well!! Night time can be dark!!!
I remember when we lived in Shiloh , being invited out to the Clouds home after church on Sunday, having the most wonderful food. I asked directions to the bathroom and to my surprise was pointed to a path!!! lol My first knowledge of an outdoor bathroom as an adult. One time as a child as I have already mentioned that I used one in Swannee Camp. I visited a friend of the church who had babies just about the same age as ours, while there I asked where the bathroom was and she laughed and pointed again to the path..We don't have an inside one yet but maybe one day! We also laugh about that now. When we see one another at church functions now we laugh about those days....they were absolutely good people.
I was pregnant most of the time in Shiloh.... so the bathroom was an important piece of mind!!! lol thank goodness we had a bathroom inside our parsonage even though we endured the rats and unwanted vistors!!!! Again while we lived in Shiloh, we had gone to visit honeys uncle and aunt in Albertville Alabama, when we returned noticed that some things were missing. My white sweater, an old gun that Mr Cloud had let honey use when he went hunting with some of the men of the church, some bullets and baby clothes...I have never felt so violated as that time!!!!! That is a strange feeling.
One time when we were visiting the same uncle and aunt, it was cold and they used fireplaces for heat. Vann was a baby, Windy was just a little over 3, so when we went ot bed, Windy was put on the sofa in the living room near the fireplace and we put Vann in bed with us. He needed a diaper change, so I put the cover over my head and straddled over him...went to remove the diaper and guess what happened!!! of course you mothers know what happened!! Don't ever expose a boy baby...he just let go with , got me square in the face!!! I hollered then realizing where we were and got quiet!!!! We laughed and laughed !!!!!
We take things for granted as adults or even while we are growing up. That bathroom was an important part of my life. Being raised in Miami Florida in a nice home which had only ONE bathroom but it was inside!!! lol lol But as a young mother of 3, trying to be the best pastors wife, trying not to complain, hoping to instill some good values in my children.
Living in Shiloh..... Honey being a young minister , trained at Trevecca College and following his fathers steps, thought that a suit or white shirt and tie was the dress of the day. Now in Shiloh the dress of the day was overalls and work boots. He went out visiting one day in his white shirt and tie, only coming home soon with a very puzzled and surprised look on his face!!! I asked him what the problem was.....said he was walking up the path to the house with a wide front porch, saw a barn off the left and a man scurrying to the house. As he approached the house he heard clanking of glass along with other sounds of haste. He stepped up on the porch, the door opened and a man said" who are you?" Honey said, " I am the pastor of the Shiloh church of the Nazarene,( stated his name) , I am inviting you to come and worship with us" not sure what the man said, but honey said he left quickly. Some of the church members laughed later when he recounted his story, saying" they are know bootleggers! " They thought you were a revenuer!!! ( A government man looking for stills!). We laughed about it but wondered what else was behind that door!!!! lol lol
At one time while there we had a very large congregation who loved to sing, using guitars along with the piano to help with the singing. I did not like playing the piano as I did not know the shape note music that my father in law knew and taught. Maybe if he had taught me I would have survived better...I really dreaded doing that music!!! While I played the piano one of the ladies would hold whichever child was the baby at the time and Windy would sit on the front pew...she was such a good little girl, the trouble was with her brothers!!! Boys boys boys!!! What can I say...boys are so different! Pick, poke, punch...anything to stir up something!!! lol. I could most of the time make them stop with my eyes but other times honey would have to come down and do a little straightening out of those boys!!!lol Oh those days!!!!!! That was our lives when they were small....They were the best dressed and best behaved children in church..They did their parents proud...oh how I love those children....I miss them.
Oh well, better close and get on with life...honey has given me some suggestions about many things, will write later....my first car, honey as a boy...etc!!!!
Thanks grandpa for listening...I love you J
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