ONE MORE STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE

My sweet niece, Adrian requested more childhood memories and Babs told me today that she had never heard me speak of my Daddy, so here are a couple more.

Daddy, in some ways, was just as much of a kid as the rest of us. He was always in the middle of whatever was going on with us kids-Boy Scouts, 4-H, raising various kinds of animals, playing games, etc. etc. He was very active with the Boy Scouts which my brothers were members of. He was elected to the Order of the Arrow which was a special honor division of the Scouts. He was the one that wanted to start raising the sheep and steers, I think, but he jumped in with all his enthusiasm. One summer he decided that we need to get the best lambs possible, so we took off, in a station wagon to Oklahoma to pick up 3 or 4 lambs. We didn't have a trailer, so we put hay in the back of the wagon and the lambs rode home-from Oklahoma to Farmerville with us. This was a long trip since this was pre-interstate highways. Two lanes all the way to Oklahoma and back. I remember changing the hay at night-for obvious reasons-and feeding the lambs. It was a long trip so when we stayed in a motel, they slept in the wagon. WHAT WAS HE THINKING?

Daddy was a very talented musician who not only read music, but also played by ear. I loved sitting by him on the piano bench and listening to him play. I am not sure why I did not inherit any of that talent, but it did skip a generation and Camille was fortunate enough to inherit her share.

I remember being held down by him and tickled silly. I did not consider this child abuse as the experts would have you believe today, but great fun.

Christmas was magical while Daddy was with us. Toys in abundance and fruit, nuts & firecrackers. It was a wonderful time of the year that he seemed to enjoy as much as we did. Once Daddy was gone, Christmas became just another day with some years no special celebration. I believe we began going to the movie on Christmas day when I was a teenager, and my brother still does that to this day.

My childhood was not all magical and there were times that are painful to remember, even today. Daddy seemed to have his life straightened back out when he discovered he had lung cancer. The cancer was so advanced by the time they figured it out that he only lived two more months. Lung cancer, during those days, was a very horrible way to die. Don't smoke, please, don't smoke.

We walked 5 this Am and I lifted, but that is the extinct of today's activities.