(I am dedicating these rat pack songs to my Grandaddy.)
This morning Skyler went into the Stake Center to see if there was anyone she knew at the Pioneer Day Stake Activity while I waited in the car. She came right back out and said she didn't see anyone from our ward, but that they were having a really good breakfast and so now she had a hankerin' for "a breakfast like Grandaddy makes." So I took her to Fresh n' Easy and we picked up a few things. We got back and Skyler scrambled and cooked the eggs all by herself. And I mean I didn't help a lick. I cooked the sausage and the grits and sliced open a cantaloupe.
I'm sure y'all are wondering why I am telling you all of this. It just got me to thinking about all of the times my Daddy and Grandaddy have cooked such a nice, big breakfast for me and my children and how that's how they show us they love us. They tell us they love us too, but they really enjoy cooking us breakfast. My mama told me this week to start preparing myself for my grandaddy to pass because he is getting weaker and weaker everyday. I was wondering to myself about whether or not he is still cooking breakfast for my grandmother. If he is not, then surely it won't be long before he goes. Then what will she do? I guess my Daddy will need to cook her breakfast every morning. Grandaddy has been cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner for her everyday for 62 years now, but breakfast is his specialty. He is also incredible at fish, gumbo, and really anything else he makes.
Throughout the years, since we lived next door to him, we were always sent back and forth between the houses to borrow and deliver things. I would say the most common was tomatoes and okra. I remember once he called and asked for a tomato and I volunteered to take it over. When I got there, he hugged me and gave me $5. I was so excited. I went home and showed my brothers and sisters the $5 and so a few of them went right over and reminded Grandaddy that they had brought over a food item a week or two prior. He got a good laugh at that. One time I heard Grandmama ask Aunt Ellen why everybody liked Grandaddy more than her and Ellen said, "Because he always gives us $20." He is the most friendly and generous when he has been drinkin' a little while. He is the funniest then too. I really love the sayings he comes up with. My grandmother says that when she met him for the first time (while on a date with someone else), she turned to her date and said, "I do believe that's the craziest fella I ever met." Here are just a few of my favorite sayings. If any of my brothers and sisters remember some, please let me know and I will add them:
You never know how you look til you get your picture took.
Eat what you want. Leave what you don't. (The Southern reader knows that rhymes.)
Collard greens make your eyes blue.
Eating (whatever he is serving that night) puts hair on your chest.
Alr-i-i-i-i-ght.
I'm glad y'all got to see me.
He used to like to sing a song called "Pistol Packin' Mama" that I loved. There have been several other great songs over the years.
My grandaddy likes to ask us how we want our eggs. He was in the Merchant Marines during World War II. (He could not serve in combat because of a scooter accident that rendered him blind in one eye.) He was a cook on a ship in the Pacific, and so he is really good at short orders. And his grits are always just the right consistency - not too thick and not too runny. I like my eggs overeasy and he makes the best overeasy eggs that I have ever eaten - he's perfect at them too. Sorry Daddy, you are a close second. You were trained by the best, but you just didn't have quite as much practice at perfecting your craft as Grandaddy did. One sure fire way to make Grandaddy mad is to insult his cooking. He is proud of what he does, as well he should be. It is extremely rare that anyone should have reason to complain about his food anyway, but I have seen my grandmother do it on rare occasions more or less just to get his goat, not really because something is wrong with the meal. It is very evident how much they love each other though. She would still sit in his lap out in the rocking chair until he got cancer. They love to dance and once they took me out dancing with their friends at the beach. I danced with Bobby Carr.
My grandaddy and grandmama have owned, over the years, two beach condominiums and three beach houses. We were always made welcome, whether they were there or not. Lots of times I would just go by myself (or without my brothers and sisters) and stay for a week or two with them. He loved to get the fresh seafood and he would always bet me that I couldn't eat "just one" of his shrimp. He made his own cocktail sauce too, and it was delicious. He mixed ketchup, horseradish and lemon juice. We used to go over to the Florida state line so that he could get a lotto ticket. He liked to gamble just a little and was pretty lucky. He once won $10,000 at a Fireman Fundraiser.
Bryant and I went on our honeymoon at Grandmama and Grandaddy's last beach house. So did Jacob and Donna. For a while there Grandaddy had a convertible that he kept parked there. He encouraged Bryant and I to take it for a drive along the beach, which we did. He goes and buys a new truck every couple of years. He then gets a couple of dents in it pretty quick. He used to have many head of cattle and a right handsome bull named "Jimmy." He once shot our dog in the leg for chasing his cows. He had an old barn with a hayloft which we played in for countless hours as a kid. Two of my brothers broke a limb jumping or being pushed out of that hayloft. My Daddy had free-range chickens and Grandaddy hated for them to get in his yard. Once I was out walking on the driveway and Grandaddy came up to me and told me he had made some good Chicken and Dumplins the night before. He then asked, "Don't you want to know where I got the chicken?". I didn't have to ask.
Grandaddy was a great steward of the earth. I often times saw him picking up trash that people had thrown out of their cars onto the side of the road that we lived on. He really liked to work on the tractor too. I loved to watch him bail the hay in the hayfield. Just the other day he had been gone for a little while and so my grandmother got worried and went out to look for him. She found him just sitting on the tractor. He had been there a good while and was physically unable to get himself down, so he was very appreciative that she had come to look for him. When I was a child, I loved to ride on the tractor with him. It is an old Ford and now Bryant takes the girls for rides on it.
He is a rough and tough man, but has a soft side too. When he was in the Merchant Marines, he would box to entertain his shipmates. He was very good. Once another Marine told him he had bet on him and that he could beat his opponent because his opponent "wasn't nothin' but an old cook anyway." So Grandaddy told him, "Hey watch it! I'm a cook!". He once slapped a man across the face in the barber shop after that man accused him of stealing public funds from Elmore County. The man pressed charges, but Daddy got Grandaddy off because there was a law on the books in Alabama then that stated you had the right to strike someone if you were in public office and that person falsely accused you of something. He got it honest. His father was a very beloved figure, but also had a terrible temper. His father, Daddy George, once beat up a man at the hardware store and hung a mule harness around his neck all in front of my grandaddy.
When I moved to Arizona, I left a cat behind that my grandparents adopted. That cat had kittens and my grandaddy liked to watch them. Even though I never saw him pet the cat or kittens, he did spoil them with canned cat food. People in the community know that he has a kind heart and often come to him when they have no money and need to buy groceries for their family. He was elected Probate Judge of Elmore County for 4 terms. The last election he defeated 4 viable opponents and never even had to put up a campaign sign. I used to love to go to the courthouse and stick my head in his office and say hello. He and the ladies that worked there always made me feel like they were happy to see me. Now I like to show my girls his picture on the wall in the Probate Office.
I have never seen Grandaddy bake a pie or make any sort of dessert. He really doesn't have a sweet tooth at all. That is probably one reason why he has been thin and healthy all of his life. My daddy must have gotten his sweet tooth from his mama. Grandaddy will, every once in a while, have a little bit of ice cream. He likes Blue Belle Butter Pecan or Vanilla or Chocolate.
He is one of the smartest people I have ever met. He knows a little about everything. Some people act like they know a little about everything, but Grandaddy really does. I think one reason is because everyday he reads the whole entire newspaper from front to back.
He is an avid Alabama football fan and is proud of the fact that he met Bear Bryant. He was so proud of my Daddy for playing college football and basketball at Clemson University. He still follows Clemson sports to this day. He likes to occasionally bet on a game or two. About one of the only times you will hear him swear is if he is losing a bet on a ballgame. He likes to watch football with a drink of straight Jack Daniels in his hand. He is really in his element then. Whenever he or my Daddy would drop us off at school, they would always tell us to "Make a hundred." Now Bryant does that too.
I guess I just really needed to share some memories and worries of mine. It is very cathartic for me to write/type my feelings. I feel so much better after I do. Later today I will have a small panic attack about putting my innermost feelings out on display for everyone, but oh well. I just feel so blessed to have grown up next door to my grandparents and to have seen them nearly everyday of my childhood and I wanted to share some memories with my children and my friends.
This year in addition to going to the parade, we were able to go high up into the White Mountains. Lucky for us, Bryant's father got a couple of nice four wheelers and we brought them with. We visited Bryant's cousin's campsite and got to do all of the fun campy stuff, but go back to Aunt Karen's house and sleep in a bed - the best of both worlds. The girls roasted marshmallows around the campfire and played with cousins. Bryant took me up to a high peak on the four wheeler and it was an incredible experience. I have never heard wind make noises like that before, nor have I ever seen an equal view, and remember I lived in Utah for a long time. To say that it was beautiful would be such an understatement. The sounds were eerie, like people whispering and moaning. I kept turning around to see if anyone was behind me. (My family, the sounds reminded me of The Grass Harp.) We could see into New Mexico from where we were. I hear there are several other great peaks to explore around Eagar, so maybe next year we will check out another one. We took a couple of pictures of ourselves to remember the moment by.
Bryant's grandfather turned 83 this July 4th. Happy Birthday Georgia and Julie too. For Papa's birthday everyone heads over to his house after the parade and we have a big party. This year he got a replica of the plane he learned to fly on and the plane he flew in World War II - a B25 bomber. I was not familiar with the B25, so it was very interesting for me to check out the replica. It had a gunner on top, a gunner in the rear, and a gunner underneath the front. Papa and Grannie got married just before he went off to the war and have been married for almost 65 years now. Papa told me yesterday that Grannie was supposed to be staying with her mother while he was off in the war, but that she was really out cattin' around while he was gone! I laughed so hard. Bryant and his father definitely get their sense of humor from Papa. Bryant's father was also a pilot. He was trained to fly Hueys for the Vietnam War, but the conflict was ending when his training was up, so luckily for us he was never sent. The average lifespan of the Huey pilots in Vietnam was only about 10-14 days. If Keith had been sent, then the odds are that he would not have returned home. 
