The other side of the circle........

Well....here we are once again. Thank you for coming in to read another post. It's an honor to have you. Please feel free to comment if you'd like. The post for tonight is about some people that have been very important to me. Maybe I should change the names to protect the innocent, but no, I'll put it out for all to read. I'm going to talk tonight about my Mom and her side of the family. My Mom is eighty one years old as of last December, but still has the vim, vigor and energy to have two vegatable gardens and a yard full of flowers of all shapes, sizes and descriptions. Oh yeah...she also knows the name of every type on plant she has. She has been a vital factor in every part of my development from infancy till the present. She is, many times, a study in contrasts. She's very loving and kind and constantly alert for anyone that she can help, while also being very opinionated and idealistic. In other words, she's a bundle of constant energy looking for an outlet. ( :-D ) Her favorite times of the of the year are Spring, summer and autumn, those being the times of year she can get outside and work in her yard and gardens. The winter she mostly tolerates while waiting for better weather. She was born in the winter of 1924 in a small country town in north central Alabama. She was born somewhere in the middle of ten children, having 5 older siblings and 4 younger. She is now one of five that survive. Her father, my grandfather,his name was John, was a traveling preacher, otherwise known as a circuit riding pastor. When he did stop the circuit he settled down to pastor one church. Over the years he was the pastor of several small country churches and became known far and wide in this part of Alabama. As a child I remember him as very tall, but I'm assured that he wasn't so tall, being a bit less than six feet tall. I do know he was a thin man so maybe that's why he seemed so tall. His wife, whose name was Mary (two nice jewish names, huh) I remember as being short and sort of laid back. She was a diabetic for as long as I have memory of her, at a time when diabetes wasn't easily treated. She was, in her older years, rather overweight. I remember her as being a good balance for my granddad. He was always teasing all of us (his grandchildren) and I rarely remember him without a smile on his face. My Grandmother on the other hand, was a bit more serious, which is why they were good for each other. While my grandfather pastored churches, that's not how he supported his family. That he did that by working in the coal mines. He did that at a time when coal mining was an extremely dirty, unhealthy and very dangerous occupation. Fatalities were more the rule than the exception. On top of that, they had a farm in which everyone old enough either particapated or did house work and cooking. They, as a family were deeply caring for each other as well as those in the community in which they lived. Living in and through the depression of the ninteen thirtys made them a very close knit family. There is so very much more that I could tell, but I'm going to limit myself to what I've written for the time being. There will be more written later. Suffice it to say, that my Mom came from solid and quality beginnings, and has endured much through the years. I know in the early sixties in a period of about three years she lost to death her Dad, a son and her Mother. It was a very trying time for us all but we became closer and more connected because of it. A last comment....I'm proud of where I came from and the family from which I came. ......and so it went........