Ramblings in the Night.........Gone

Gone

Another year has come and gone.

Time flies by and life moves on.

The days pass by, with blinding speed

People are so caught up,

With their wants and needs.

We get caught up, in the daily grind.

Sometimes we act, like we have lost our minds.

Running here and there, with no moment to spare.

Times flies by and we can’t breathe the good air.

Too late to look back, when old age has caught us

To change the things, when we are thoughtless.

No time to waste, no time to stop.

Time soon will run out,

Like a wind up clock.

You better be brave,

And you better be bold.

For soon you will awake,

And see that now you are old.

Time is no respecter of the lives of men.

Death will come to claim us all, in the end.

By: David M. Shuler

18DEC2016

Christmas Time Poem

Christmas Time

Christmas Time will soon be here.

Family and friends all gathered round,

Laughing and singing carol’s from the heart.

There will be presents galore, and feasts spread wide

It is the spirit of giving, and most don’t know why.

Not a fat ole elf, in red so fine, giving gifts to the world in record time..

But a babe in a manger and the life that was gave.

Christmas is the story of Christ and the sacrifice that he made.

So let not the day pass, with merry making and song,

Without giving thanks, to God on his throne.

His only begotten Son, he gave us on this day,

With love in his heart, for the multitudes to be saved.

Tell your family and friends, that you Love them,

Hold them close and tight.

Christmas time will soon be here, and oh what a joyous sight.

Picture the shepherds keeping watch ore their flocks by night,

And angels descending from heaven, in a wondrous light.

Singing from the heavenly choir,

And the birth of Christ that very hour.

The true meaning of Christmas, a love story come true.

For God so loved the world,

That on this most wondrous of nights.

He gave is only begotten Son,

To pardon us of our sins.

Christmas time will soon be here.

What joy and peace to be had,

That God so loved us, even when we are bad.

In his loving arms,

We find comfort and shelter from life’s storms,

Nothing on earth can do us harm.

So sing and rejoice for on this day,

Christ came to earth, our sins to wash away.

Christmas time will soon be here,

Give thanks with those gathered round.

Never forget the true meaning of this day,

And share it with everyone that you meet along the way.

By: David M. Shuler   04 DECEMBER 2016

RAMBLINGS in the NIGHT...... Easily Offended

Ramblings in the Night……….Easily Offended

            We live in a day when people are easily offended about anything. People wear their feelings on their shoulders. And any slight seems, to be a person insult to set them off. Freedom of speech is under attack. Employers routinely check out employee or potential employees social media pages. Anything that is found that offends could cost a person their job. We live in an age where you have to be politically correct.       

            Just last week a teacher’s aide in Georgia lost her job over a post on her Facebook page where she called the first lady Michelle Obama a gorilla. People got their panties in a twist and sought to have her terminated from her job. And they succeeded. So a lady lost her job over her freedom of speech.

            I was taught when I was younger, that sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me. While that is not necessarily true in this day and age. Because I believe, in the 21^st century people are thin skinned. Today if you say something that hurts a persons feelings then they run straight to the person in charge and tattle tell. Which when I was growing up would have gotten you beat up.

            Michelle Obama, our current first lady has had nearly 8 years to do tremendous things that comes with the position she holds as first lady. She could have bridged the gap between threatening tear our nation apart, and brought people together to end racism. But it never happened. If anything she caused the gap to grow wider. It is clear that she doesn’t like or care for white people. Claimed that she lives in a house built by slaves. What she failed to say was that slaves were brought in as a last resort. Because before slaves were used in the building of the White House, there were Scottish, Irish, and other races building it. And in order to get it built sooner slaves were brought in. But, let’s move away from the first lady.

This Rambling isn’t even about her. My Grandpa would say we are raising a bunch of pansies and sissies. My Grandpa knew that I was gay, when I was a teenager living in his house. He didn’t care about my sexuality. Because I didn’t act like a flaming queen. I loved to hunt and fish. I didn’t have a problem getting my hands dirty working The only thing about me that pissed my Grandpa off was my very long hair and the earrings in my ears. And he didn’t mind it too much or he would have made me cut my hair. Today, guys are afraid of breaking a nail.

While I was serving in the US Navy, I was an instructor at Corpsman school. I was out to my Captain and other member of the staff. I didn’t catch grief because I was gay. Mainly because I didn’t act gay. I sure wasn’t girly acting. But there were young sailors going through Corpsman school who did act girly while in uniform. This would piss me off quicker than anything. And I called 4 young men out for it one morning in front of everyone. Oh they screamed bloody murder. Claiming that I couldn’t call them out for the way they were acting. So I let them in on my secret. I didn’t normally tell my students about my sexuality. But I felt that they needed to be educated.

Now I am sure that this would and will offend some people but I really don’t care. I believe that while in uniform you carry yourself in a certain manner. And guys acting all girly is not the manner in which you carry yourself. Especially if you are in a combat situation. That is a good way for you to get yourself killed by members of your own unit.

While I was an Instructor at Corpsman school, new sailors coming over from boot camp and bringing with them time out chits. What the hell is a time out chit? I didn’t know at the time. Boot camp didn’t have time out chits when I was going through boot camp. So when the first student brought me one begging for a time out. I learned that they were to be given to the instructors when the student had had too much and needed a break because things had become to intense for them the continue. Are you fucking kidding me? As my Grandpa would say we are raising a bunch of pussies.

You know we have to be PC or Politically correct today. Well what does that mean? I had no idea until I looked it up. Well basically it means, is we have to be very alert to what we say and how we say in order not to offend others. To this I say, BULLSHIT. I like what the urban dictionaries definition of Politically Correct says. Political Correct: A way we speak in America so that we don’t offend whining pussies. “Only pathetically weak people that don't have the balls to say what they feel and mean are politically correct pussies.” AMEN… I grew up speaking my mind. I don’t plan to stop just because what I say might offend someone. They either need to grow a pair or stay the hell away from me.

While I was in college. I think I caused my professors a lot of stress because I am so out spoken. I know I made Mrs. Burch cringe more than once, because of something I said. I used to hate to give my opinion. I didn’t really want to hurt someone’s feelings. But after much soul searching and thought, I decided hell if a person really wants to know my thoughts and feelings on a subject. I feel that I should be honest and upfront with them. Even if it hurts. If you don’t want my opinion don’t ask me for it. For the most part I am blunt and don’t hold back.

I think we can always agree to disagree. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. It shouldn’t offend a person because someone sees things in a different light and voice their thought on the subject. So don’t hold back and raise your voice. Offend someone by thinking differently than they do. Post something that offends and have the balls to stand by what you believe. Don’t back down from confrontation. We need a few people with the guts to speak out, even if it offends others.

RAMBLINGS IN THE NIGHT....2016 Election & the Democrat and Republican running for President.

Ramblings in the Night……..

2016 Election and the Democrat & Republican running for President.

            I’m setting in my living room. The second Presidential debate is about to start. The Donald & Killary are set to face each other for the second time. If tonight’s debate is anything like the first one I will have wasted other hour and a half of my life. While both sides claim victory over the first debate. Personally I think it is a sad state of affairs and a shame on the United States citizenry, that the only two people that are so called qualified for the highest office in the land, is Hillary Clinton & Donald Trump.

            What does it say about us as a Nation, that these two individuals are the best and brightest that we can come up with to hold the Office of President of the United States of America? We must be the biggest bunch of idiots and morons breathing air. Or to quote Killary, about Republicans, she called us DEPLORABLES. We have The Donald, a man that loves the sound of his own voice and Hillary, a woman that thinks she can do no wrong and if she does, she can get away with it without having to face the consequences.

            Yes, I am a registered Republican. I’ve been a registered Republican my whole adult life, and knew before I ever went and registered what party I would register with. I grew up half of my family was Democrat and the other half was/is Republican. So I was educated about both sides from a young age. My Grandpa was a registered Democrat his whole life. And my Great uncle is a registered Republican. Both play a big part of my life and how I view both political parties.

            When I was a young child, I remembered going to the voting poles with my dad or grandpa. I remember walking into the voting poles and watch as my dad or grandpa would receive their ballots and sign in that they were voting. At that time they had these journals with every registered voter in the county names in them. Voting was a sacred rite of passage and to be taken serious. It was your God given duty to vote.

            Now, when you walked in the Republicans would be on one side and the Democrats would be on the other. And they carried guns to the poles. Elections were tense moments up to the close of the voting. Neither side spoke to the other. And depending who the elections life could be very hard for those in the losing party.

            Prime example; my Great grandfather, who was a diehard in the wool Democrat over saw the horses for Bemis Lumbar company. If the Republicans won the election, then he would deny the loggers in the county access to the use of the horses to get logs out of the woods and the lumber mill. He would just about starve out the Republicans before he would finally lend out the horses to them. So when I say it was serious business, I mean voting was serious business.

            I’ve lived through 8 Presidents. The good Lord willing I will live through the next one. Whomever it may be. Richard Nixon was President when I was born. He left office early due to the Watergate scandal. I wasn’t old enough to remember all the details or understand just exactly what was happening at the time. But both sides of the family were in chaos because of it.

            Gerald Ford, the President that wasn’t supposed to be. He became President, because of Nixon’s resignation. He stepped up in a time when America needed stability and to start the healing process over Watergate. For the most part his Presidency was uneventful.

            Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, from the South, a Georgia peach. What we would call, “a good ole boy.” While I feel a moral and decent man, with good Southern values. He was not a strong President. He only lasted one term. That being his inability to use his office as President to bring the hostages in Iran home safely. He wanted to negotiate with what we would term TERROIST today.

            That saw the arrival of the Gipper, Ronald Reagan to become the next President of the United States. Reagan, made it clear that if he was elected President, his first order of business was to bring the hostages home safely. He told Iran and the rest of the world that if the hostages weren’t released when he became President. Then he would go to war and send them back to the Stone Age. The leaders of Iran, the Ayatollah Khamenei, were praying to Allah that Reagan didn’t get elected. But Reagan did become President and the hostages came home shortly thereafter. Mom let me stay out of school the morning that Reagan was sworn in as President. My Aunt Belle had given me a TV for Christmas that year so I spent the morning in my room glued to the TV. Reagan was elected for two terms.

            Reagans Vice-President George H. W. Bush became President next. He lasted one term. He invaded Iraq beginning the Persian-Gulf War and Operation Desert Storm. This was not popular with the American people. I remember my cousin Robbie was in the Army and had to go. My family worried a lot during that time. Praying that Robbie would come home safely. And he did.

            Bush lost the bid for a second term as President to Bill Clinton. The Governor of Arkansas. A Democrat. Not much was known about him at the time. But he won the oval office. Clinton was President for two terms. But his Presidency was marred by scandal and Impeachment inquiry. The scandal was sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky. But she wasn’t the first or last. Bill Clintons famous quote, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”

            George W. Bush, son of former President George H. W. Bush moves into the Oval Office and becomes President. On 11^th day of September 2001, planes crashed into the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon. This attack was by a terrorist group Al-Qaeda. Operating out of Iraq. Public enemy number one was Osama Bin Laden. Just a few months later war was declared on Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

            I was working at the University of TN at the time. The morning of the attacks I was working in the Emergency room at UT. I saw news footage moments after the first plane hit and watched live as the second plane hit. I ran out of the ER suite I was in and yelled the Twin Towers had been hit by planes. The Nurses station emptied out and people ran to empty rooms to watch the news. It was a shock to the system. I believe all of America was stunned at what happened. Most couldn’t believe that it would ever happen to us.

            I left UT for the US Navy. Bush was elected for two terms as President. Some people at the time believed he would go down in history as the worst President in US history. Several factors came into play, not just the war going on at the time. Wall Street and the housing market tanked. People were losing their homes by the score. America was in a recession and on its way to a depression.

            Onto the scene walked Barak Obama. He beat Hillary Clinton for the Democrat nomination. And became our current President. He became our first black President. I will say now that I am not racist. But I felt and still feel that he wasn’t qualified to be President. But that is neither here nor there.  He ran on the platform of HOPE and CHANGE. But he is ending his two term Presidency with dissention and unrest. America has become a nation divided. It is not all Obamas fault either. He is an over confident man that refused to work with the members of Congress. And our elected officials in Congress refused to work with him or each other.

            Which brings us to the upcoming 2016 election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.  Personally I don’t think either one of them should be President. Trump, puts his foot in his mouth just about every time he opens his mouth. He says things without thinking how his words will be perceived. We live in an age that what we say today may come back to bite us in the ass tomorrow. Everything is recorded via audio or videoed. And then it is uploaded to social media. And once there, can and will haunt you forever and a day.

            Hillary Clinton, is a devil of a different breed. I wouldn’t trust her if I could pick her up and throw her. Incompetence best describes Hillary. She may suffer from Alzheimer’s. She has problems remembering what she has said and done. And the outcome is never her fault. She takes no responsibility for her inactions that allowed 4 Americans to be killed. Or that while Secretary of State she lost $6 billion dollars.

            Yes Trump lost a billion dollars in a day. But it was his billion dollars. Hillary lost money that belonged to the American people. How is it that the Clintons who have been public servants all their lives have acquired and amassed a fortune worth over $200 million dollars. You can’t do it and it be honest and legal.

            This election will be decided by people who really do not have good choices to choose from. Either way who ever becomes President, it will be American citizens who will suffer. Of the 300 million people in the United States this is the best we can do. These two are the most qualified to hold the office of President. It doesn’t make sense. Nor does it add up. Neither one of them are qualified in my eyes. Hillarys’ nomination has been rocked and marred by scandal at every turn. Trumps having the same problems. And yet in less than a month we are going to walk into the voting poles and cast our vote and one of these two morons or deplorables will be our next President. It is we the American people who are the idiots, for even believing that we stand a chance with either one of them.

             I feel that dark days are ahead for the American people. I feel that more and more we will be a nation divided. And NO Leader to step up to start the healing process that America so desperately needs. It is scary and yet we are being led like cattle to the slaughter. Give us a leader, who will put the American people first for a change. A Leader that will make changes in Washington that will make life better. Work with Congress and Congress will work with him or her. I don’t care if the next President is a woman as long as it is not Hillary Clinton. The world is setting back and laughing their asses off at us.

RAMBLINGS IN THE NIGHT..... Coon fight in the Hollar.

RAMBLINGS IN THE NIGHT……. Coon fight in the Hollar.

            This story happened a few years back, in 2010. I was living in Atlanta, GA at the time. I had just come off active duty from the U.S. Navy. I decided to surprise my folks and visit one weekend. It was around the end of April or the first part of May. I drove up to Robbinsville, NC to my Moms home. I got there and there wasn’t a person at home. I called Moms cell and come to find out she had gone up to Asheville, NC for the weekend, to stay with my cousin Melanie and her family.

            Well, I called my cuz April and went down and hung out with her and her husband Calvin for a little while. We grilled out some steaks and hung out for a while. Getting caught up on everything going on in Robbinsville.

            Well along around 10PM I headed back up to Moms. I was beat from the drive up from Atlanta. It was time to get comfortable watch a little TV then call it a night. Robbinsville is a dry county, so alcohol was out of the question. And Mom don’t allow that stuff in her home. 

            Anyways around midnight and had decided to hit the sack. Now I am used to living in the big city. There is always some kind of noise going on in the back ground in Atlanta. Man it was so quiet at Moms, you could hear the wheels turning in the little heads of the crickets outside. And dark, it gets dark at Moms house when the sun goes down. There aren’t any street lights. So walking around is out of the question unless you have a flashlight.

            I finally drifted off to sleep around 1AM. And I was just getting into some good sleeping when all of the sudden, there was the awfullest racket commenced to going on outside up on the mountain behind Moms house. It was a pack of dogs and man they were hunting something. I knew or had a good idea what they were hunting at that time of the night.

            You could hear those dogs barking and they were on the trail of some animal. They went up around the barn and then down by Moms house, right outside the bedroom window I was sleeping or I should was attempting to sleep in. They were hot on the trail. Then went on for about an hour. When it first woke me up, it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. It scared me something bad. Once I calmed down and realized what was going on, I got into listening to the dogs hunt.

            All of the sudden them dogs found what they were hunting for, up around the barn. Now let me say right here that the fight that was taking place up at the barn would give a person nightmares. It was vicious. And it was going up and down the side of the mountain around the barn.

            Well I could only think of a couple of things that would be putting up a fight like that, a bear, a wild hawg, or a coon. I knew that my Stepdad Jimmy had been having some trouble keeping the coons out of his garden. So I suspected that it was a coon that was in the fight with that pack of dogs. Mind you that I was considering all this at like 5AM.

            Well finally the battle was over. The dogs evidently got their prize or the coon whooped every dog there and walked on off. I wasn’t sure which at the time. It was still dark outside, and my night was shot because of this fight in the night outside the house. I tried to go back to sleep, and I dozed for a little while. When the sun started creeping in the window around 7:30 I finally got up and made some breakfast.

            Once I had eaten and put on some clothes I decided to go see if I could find out what those dogs were hunting and if they killed it. Or if any of the dogs had got injured or killed. I walked up to the barn and hit the trail up behind it. Jimmies garden is situated on the side of the mountain behind the barn. I got to the back side and it looked like World War III had taken place. There was a path 10 foot wide that ran down from edge of the woods through Jimmies garden by the branch to in front of the of the barn and smack into the creek.

            I started at the edge of the woods and worked my way down the path of destruction. I found patches of fur all the way down. I knew that it was a coon. I got to the barn and the chaos around the barn was really bad. That is when I saw it. There half in the creek and half out on the bank, was a coon trap and a nasty filthy mad coon trapped in a cage. The cage looked as bad as the coon did. Those dogs and did a number on the cage, trying to get to the coon.

            That coon was not happy. It was hissing at me and clawing at the cage trying to get out of it. Well I got a hold of the handle and lifted that poor half drowned coon up out of the creek and walked it down to the house and set it in front of Jimmies work car. I know Jimmy would be glad to see it when they got home. The coon well his temper did calm down at all.

            Mom and Jimmy came home early Saturday afternoon. Jimmy took one look at the cage and the trapped coon. He looked at me waiting for an explanation. So I go into full story mode of what I heard in the night and what I found once I got out and went to check. 

            So I ended up taking the coon to the head of Long Creek and setting it out in the woods. It was happy to be out of the cage and took off up the creek. I was happy. That meant I would hopefully get a good night’s sleep. Jimmy was happy that the coon was gone. Mom was so happy she cooked a nice supper. The end..

Written  01APRIL2016 By: David Shuler

RAMBLINGS IN THE NIGHT........ Homosexuality & Homophobia

RAMBLINGS IN THE NIGHT….. Homosexuality & Homophobia

            This is a most unusual Rambling for me. Seldom do I give my opinion on things like this. I am of a firm belief that opinions are like assholes, everybody has one & they are usually very stinky & full of shit. Pardon my language.

            There is a great deal of homophobia at the moment. States are passing laws that discriminate against the GLBT community and try to claim that is for religious reasons. When in fact it is nothing more than HATE disguised as religious freedom. North Carolina just this past week passed a law that discriminates against transgendered individuals and the GLBT community. In one day the bill went through the state house, state senate, and Governor Pat McCrory signed into law. It steps on not only the rights of the GBLT community, but the rights of the local governments to passing laws for their individual cities and counties. All disguised as protecting normal people from the prospect of being assaulted in public restrooms.

            So much FEAR and HATE against a group of people. Why? Hate is a learned behavior. Is it because gay and lesbian people demand the rights and liberties guaranteed to them by the Constitution of the United States? Every American citizen has the right to LIFE, LIBERTY, and the PURSUIT of HAPPINESS. Those words penned over 200 years ago weren’t meant for a limited few, a select few, but to each and every person born in this Great Country. Regardless of a person’s religious beliefs.

            It is funny, how easily the Christian is thrown out there. People who barely darken the doors to a church on Sunday and never pick up the Bible, but claim to be Christian and it is against their religious belief to have anything to do with the GBLT community. The word Christian means, “to be Christ Like.” I personally don’t see many Christ like people walking around. I don’t know many people who chose to give up everything and take up their cross and follow Christ. Most are like the rich young ruler, it grieved him to have to give up his worldly possessions. The same holds true today. Most people have their big homes, fancy cars, designer clothes. If Christ walked up to them and told them to leave it all behind and follow him, most would turn away sad and disheartened.

            There is NO LOVE in their hearts, NO COMPASSION, nothing Christ like at all, only HATE. Most people take a few verses in the Bible and live their lives around those few verses. These verses usually promote their idea of how they should live and how everyone else should live. They then ignore what the rest of the Bible says and teaches.

            While I grew up in a Baptist Church and set under and Bible preacher, who knew the Bible and knew it well. That doesn’t mean that he knew everything about the Bible. He would preach on SIN and name it. He didn’t care who he made mad. You don’t find that much anymore. Preachers stand in the pulpit on Sunday and will only Preach on a few topics, that they know will not offend members of their congregation. Homosexuality is on the OK to preach against list, because heaven forbid that a homosexual would be setting on a church pew. Homosexuals are perverts, sinners, and wouldn’t dare go to church. They don’t believe in God or his great gift he gave to mankind. This is what people think. It is amazing the ignorance of the religious community.

            Heterosexuals thought they had a monopoly on marriage. The religious right thought that marriage is only between a man and a woman. Same-sex marriage was and is a foreign concept. I personally don’t understand why homosexuals would want to marry. They should look at the mess the heterosexual have made of the institution of marriage. Divorce rates are at all time highs. The Bible says marriage is honorable and the bed undefiled. Lots of divorces, meaning a lot of defiled beds.

            Like I said this is me RAMBLING. If preachers got up and preached against ADULTERY, it would be total chaos in the church. Instead they will officiate the marriage of members of their churches each time they remarry. If they didn’t the church would vote them out or run them out.

            The youth of the churches are out fornicating. Young girls are getting pregnant out of wedlock. When I lived in Knoxville, one of the high schools there had over a hundred young girls pregnant at the same time.  The boys instead of being set down and educated on the issues of being a teen dad. Are patted on the back and high fived for their masculinity and prowess it getting the girls into the sack. And you always hear well it is the girls fault, she was asking for it. She could said no. If the preach got up and called out FORNICATION, then he would lose the youth of the church and lose his job for running them off. So as long as sin is not named but left in a general area no one cares.

            Why so much hate against homosexuals? Is it because being gay makes a straight man question his own sexuality? I think it is because the GLBT community has stopped hiding in the shadows. They have decided to stand up for themselves and are demanding their rights and the right to live as they wish and be heard. The GLBT community is no longer silent, and they will no longer be bullied. And for some if they can’t bully then they aren’t happy.

            More and more young people are coming out. And those students who have the courage to come out being taunted and tormented is an everyday occurrence. The suicide rate among GLBT youth is far higher than straight youth.  School officials don’t step in when they see bullying going on. Most claim that the GLBT youth brings it on themselves for coming out and rubbing their lifestyle in the faces of the other students. And then the very school officials, when a gay student commits suicide exclaim what a tragedy. How did we let this happen?

            The word homosexual is not found in the Bible. There are references to homosexuality in the Bible. But homosexual is not in there. The word homosexual didn’t show until the end of the nineteenth century. Before that words like Sodomite, and queer were used.

            Sodomite is used because of the story in Genesis chapters 18 & 19. Evidently someone decided that this story was dealing with same-sex perversion. But for some reason preachers have used these verses to denounce homosexuality. If you read the story you will see that not everyone in Sodom and Gomorrah are homosexual. Lot the main character of chapter 19 was living there with his family. When the angels came to warn him of the impending doom, they told him to gather his family and flee the city. He had sons and daughters who had taken wives and husbands from the within Sodom. After researching and reading several books on the subject. I think the real crime here is RAPE. The citizens of Sodom came to Lots door wanting him to send out the angels so they could know them. I think that this implies, to rape them. Men and women alike.

            It’s funny I have heard different people discuss the subject of Genesis 19. They all seemed to think that everyone living in Sodom was queer. I find that hard to believe. If that was the case finding suitable spouses for Lots children would have been difficult.

            Other verses that are used to condemn homosexuals are Leviticus 18:22 & 20:13,

Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Leviticus 18:22

If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. Leviticus 20:13

Granted these verses were written in the Law of Moses. We live in the Grace age, not under the law. That is a story for a different time.  The New Testament verses dealing with homosexuality, here are a couple Romans 1:25-32, & I Corinthians 6:9-10.

            Most people use the 10 Commandments as a standard to live by. You can find the 10 Commandments hanging not only in Churches across America. You will find the 10 Commandments on the walls of Courtrooms, in Courthouses, Branches of State, & Federal buildings. Even on the Wall of the United States Supreme Court Building. If you read the 10 Commandments, homosexuality didn’t make the top 10. Adultery did, killing did, bearing false witness, honor your mother and father did. HMMMM makes a person wonder.

            Instead of condemning people for being themselves or different. We should let them be who they are regardless of social norms or religious bias. Let people live their lives the way they chose. You would think that we as human beings we would become enlightened. We live in the 21^st Century not the dark ages. We need to be tolerant of other people’s beliefs. We don’t have to agree with their beliefs. But each and every person born in the Great US of A. is entitled to their beliefs.

            It would be a very dull and boring world if we were all alike in every way. That is why God made each of us different. Take a moment and get to know someone before you decide you don’t like them.

            GBLT people are human to. They have feelings. They have dreams, desires, wants, and needs. The GBLT community play a big part in our communities. They have careers, such as, doctors, lawyers, educators, artist, etc. Don’t knock someone till you know them and have walked a mile in their shoes. This ends my Rambling on this subject….

Written 29MAR2016.    By: David M. Shuler

RAMBLINGS IN THE NIGHT.....My Dad

RAMBLINGS IN THE NIGHT…….My Dad

            My Dad spent most of his time working hard to provide for his family. He worked a full-time job as a lumber inspector for Stanley furniture, for years. When we wasn’t at his job, he was usually working in a tobacco field or hay field. We raised tobacco when I was growing up. It gave us extra money at the end of the year to purchase those things that were needed and a few things that we wanted. We cut hay and sold it to farmers who raised cattle. That extra money was needed to raise a family when I was growing up.

            I can never fault my dad’s work ethic. He was a hard worker. His name is Marvin James. He will be 69 in a few short days. Unfortunately I will not get to celebrate his birthday with him.  NO he is not dead. I am dead to him. We haven’t spoken in over two years. Before that we spoke only on rare occasions. And to see each other was maybe once every couple of years or more. I last saw my Dad last year in February or March of 2015, at my Aunt Ruth’s Funeral. We never even spoke to each other. It is sad, in so many ways.

            When I was younger Dad had me working in the tobacco and hay fields. I was setting on a tobacco setter when I was 4 years old. Now a tobacco setter is pulled along behind a tractor and it has levers that you set tobacco plants in and then they are inserted into the ground. I spent many long hours, sitting on a setter growing up. But I didn’t mind, because I was spending time with my Dad. I didn’t much care for the hard work. But I loved my Dad and wanted to be near him.

            We had a red Chevy pickup truck, when I was growing up. It was a 3 speed on the column. Now we used it along with Grandma’s Blue Chevy truck to pick up hay and take to the barn. When I was younger, I couldn’t pick up the bales of hay, because they weighed too much. But I could drive the red Chevy. Now it wasn’t easy task, I could barely reach the clutch and look over the steering wheel at the same time. I would leave the truck in 1^st gear and poke along giving cousins and uncles time to pick up and toss the bales into the bed of the truck.

            Now Grandma Ruby or Aunt Shirley would drive down to Crisp Grocery and pick up RC Cola and moon pies for us to snack on. Man there isn’t anything any better than an RC Cola and a moon pie while working in a hay field. A hay field is hot work. Plus it is itchy, scratchy, and sneezy. You can lose 30 lbs or more working in a hay field. I guess that is why I was so skinny when I was younger….lol

            I remember one year it was during hunting season. It was in December towards the end, going into the New Year. Dad and some of his buddies were going on a hunting trip. So they were going to be gone for several days. And wouldn’t be back until a few days into the New Year. Well Dad said, as him and his buddies were leaving that he would see me next year. To my young mind that meant a year, not a few days. I became upset and started crying and hung on to Dad for dear life. His buddies got mad at him and so did Mom. I was holding up their trip. Dad finally got me unwrapped from his leg. And explained how that when he returned in a few days that it would be a New Year. It was not a fun time for me. I thought he would be gone for a year. But after much talking on his part he finally convinced me that what he said was true. Oh yeah he got the calendar off the wall in the kitchen and showed to finally get me to believe him.

            Dad loved sports. Growing up that is all I heard was sports, sports, sports. Not just from Dad but everyone in the whole family. I now look back on it and wish I could have been a bigger fan to have made my Dad happy. I played baseball. I really wasn’t interested in it. But I did it because Dad wanted me too. Dad really wanted me to play football. But Mom was not going to let that happen. So I never played. Which that didn’t bother me. My interest was reading. I loved to read, and still do all these years later. Now I didn’t meet Dad’s expectations with not liking sports. I did make him happy because I loved to hunt and fish.

            I will be writing a RAMBLING on Hunting and Fishing. I am putting it together already. There are so many tales to tell of days Hunting and Fishing with Dad and various family members. It will be coming soon.

            We had a wood furnace to heat the house growing up. And man it would get so hot in the house you had to open the windows to cool off in the winter. Well Dad and I would go cut wood in different places to have enough to last the winter. On two different occasions when we were out in the wilderness cutting tree to have firewood for the winter I had bad encounters with 1^st a nest of yellow jackets and on the 2^nd a nest of black jackets.

 Now on the 1^st occasion we were at the head of Tallulah cutting wood. Dad had been cutting down trees and sawing them up into sections. I was loading the cut up sections in the bed of the truck. Well evidently Dad parked the truck close enough to a yellow jackets nest, that while I was totting the cut up wood to the truck I stepped into the hole that the yellow jackets nest was located.

Let me say right here, that life got very interesting real fast. The very second I stepped into the nest I knew I was in trouble. Yellow Jackets were flying up my pants leg. I was jumping around and stripping off all my clothes trying to get away from the yellow jackets and not get stung.  Dad saw me hoping around and taking clothes off. He had this weird look on his face. Cause there I stood with pants in one hand jumping up and down trying to get away from the yellow jackets that were still attached to my socks and shoes. Dad of course busted out laughing. I didn’t think it was at all funny. Luckily I only got stung 3 or 4 times.

The 2^nd time we were on the head of Sweetwater nearly to Stecoah Gap, on an old logging road. We were on the side of the mountain. Dad was sawing up a downed tree and I was rolling the cut up section down to the road then putting them in the bed of the truck. Well I was claiming back up the hill to role another bunch off logs down into the road, when my foot went straight through the ground up to my knee.

This time I had stepped into a black jackets nest. Black jackets are a cross between a hornet and yellow jacket and a 100 times meaner. Man I jerked my leg out of that hole and blindly ran off down the side of the mountain and creaming bloody murder. Those little demons were eating me alive. Again I started stripping off clothes to get away from the black jackets. I ended up getting stung about a half a dozen times before I got out of my pants. Stop laughing it wasn’t funny.

This story here is funny. When Dad was in his mid-thirties, he went and had all of his teeth pulled and got false teeth. We were living at my childhood home on Atoah. I was probably 12 at the time. So that would put it around 1982. It was during the summer I remember that. In our living room we had this big brown chaise lounge.

Well on this particular afternoon. Dad was lounging on the chaise in nothing but his fruit of the looms. It was hot outside and we didn’t have air conditioning in the house other than open windows. Dad had at some point fallen asleep. The phone rang or someone came by the house I don’t remember which, and woke Dad up. Well between the time that he fell asleep and woke up Dad lost the upper set of his false teeth. And I mean that literally.

He accused Mom and me of hiding them. I was in the living the whole time. I was lying on the floor watching TV it was a Saturday morning and cartoons were on. Mom was in and out of the living room doing her morning routine of cleaning the house and such. Neither one of us had at any time touched Dads teeth. But he sure thought we had.

After tearing the house apart, for over an hour, looking for his teeth.  Dad finally found them. They had somehow fell out of his mouth and down into his fruit of the looms. I will not say that it was the funniest thing I ever seen or heard of, man it was close. I laughed my butt off.  After the initial shock of where he found his teeth, Dad laughed about it also.

            It is sad; My Relationship with my Dad took a nose dive around my 14^th year. We have never been able to recover from it. Today we are nothing more that acquaintances. There is NO, Father and Son bond. I have spent the years since I was 14 at odds for one reason or the other with Dad. Dad doesn’t like having a gay son. I hate it for Dad, I truly do. But I can’t change who I am just because he wants me too.

            I love my Dad, don’t miss understand. I loved doing stuff with him when I was a kid. 32 years have passed since the time of my youth. I am closing in on middle age. I see my years swiftly passing me by. I am sure Dad feels it also. There are not many days left to us to have a Father & Son relationship. Life it too short to have a heart of anger and hate. Holding on to past injustices and wrongs, only makes a person bitter and sick.

            If I had one wish, it would be, to have a relationship with my Dad. But a relationship is a two way street. Both parties involved have to want it. I have made attempts over the years when I lived in Knoxville, TN. But nothing ever happened. Mom used to call me and say to me, you need to work thing out with your Dad. He is the only one you will ever have and you both need to fix it. I would get so upset after one of those calls from her. I was working at the University of Tennessee at that time. And my coworkers would get involved and agree with Mom about it, which was so irritating.

            I will end with this. Like I said at the beginning of this, My Dads birthday is just a few weeks away in April. I know that I will not celebrate it with him or even get to talk with him to wish him a happy birthday. So I will end this Rambling wishing my Dad a wonderful and happy 69^th Birthday. And I hope that whoever celebrates it with him makes it a blessed day for my Dad.

            A special blessing, to all of the sons out there who don’t have a good relationship with your Dads. Do what you can to set things right. Go the extra mile. A relationship is a two way street. Either your Dad is willing to meet in the middle or he isn’t. But make the effort to find out.  Life is too short, not to have at least tried to make peace. If your efforts bare fruit, then you truly are blessed. If it doesn’t then you have at least tried and you are the better for having tried.

Written on 18MARCH2016     By: David M. Shuler  

RAMBLINGS IN THE NIGHT...... MY MOM

RAMBLINGS IN THE NIGHT….. My Mom

My Mom is one of the most important people in my life. We have always been close. That is not to say that we don’t have disagreements and argue. I think we enjoy arguing with each other just for the sake of arguing…..lol. But this Rambling is about her and how she has played an important role in my life.

Now my Mom aka Ms. Deborah Jean, was married to my dad at the young age of 15, and had me at the young age of 16. We sort of grew up together. I remember when I was growing up that she would get down in the dirt and play with me. I was a cheap kid. I like matchbox cars and books. Mom would play with me in the dirt and the matchbox cars. We would build towns and cities. You don’t find many moms who can or will do that now a days.

I didn’t have to have the expensive game systems growing up. Which the only game system at that time was Atari. So entertainment was had only if you created it.  Mom took interest in the things that I was interested in. She was in a word protective.

Growing up, I can remember she would read to me, from a Bible story book until I was old enough to read myself. Even after I learned to read, she made it a nightly routine that we would read the Bible before going to bed and saying our prayer. She instilled in me the importance of the Bible, God and Church. I know my Mom prayed for me when I was growing up. I know that she still prays for me now that I am grown. Mom is a firm believer that God can and will answer prayers.

I know firsthand that Mom can get her prayers answered. I have seen the results of having a praying Mom. There have been instances in my life where Mom has prayed and God answered and things worked out the way she prayed. Here is a prime example, I received Christmas day orders to IRAQ, on Christmas day 2006. I was at Mom’s house with all the family, when the phone rang. Mom answered it. She got this weird look on her face and said it’s the Navy and they want to talk to you.

Well, I was like ok. Everyone in the house got quiet as I was talking to the YN1 on the phone. I said yes and no a lot. And I understand. All the while Mom was looming and hovering like a bird about to dive on its prey. Once I got off the phone, no one said anything. They were waiting for Mom to say something. Finally, she looked at me and said, what was that all about. Well let me say this right here, Mom has a temper. And when she is mad look out. So I looked at her and said, I have 72 hours to report to Naval Station San Diego. I am going to IRAQ. Lets just say Christmas ended right then. Mom got so mad.

It took all of us talking to her to get her to calm down. I thought she was going to blow the roof off the house. I did not spend the night. I drove back home to Knoxville, TN, where I lived.

Mom called me the next day she had calmed down. Her first words to me were, I am praying that you don’t have to go. I said Mom you can’t pray that. I have to go. No, No, No, I am praying that she said.

Well 72 hours later I was taxing up the runway at McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville, heading to San Diego, California. To Naval Station San Diego. I was there for a week before catching a C-130 to Gray Air Force base and then bused to Fort Lewis Army Base in Washington State. I was stationed there for 3 months training. All the while every time I talked to Mom, she would tell me that I am praying that you don’t have to go.

After 3 months of training, we were 2 hours out before we flew to IRAQ. I get a phone call from a Senior Chief up in Great Lakes, wanting to know if I can come up and be an instructor at Hospital Corpsman “A” School. I told Senior, man I am about to head to IRAQ in 72 hours. Senior said I will call you back shortly and hung up. Two hours later I get a call from a YN1 stationed in Millington, TN. YN1 said HM2 Shuler I have a Senior Chief up in Great Lakes wanting you up there, but you have orders to ship out to IRAQ in 72 hours. Yes I know that I told her. She said, well what do you want to do? I told her I’ll go wherever the Navy needs me. She was quiet for a few moments then said, I am changing your orders. I’ll send you new orders within the hour, you’re going to Great Lakes.

I had no more than got off the phone with her and my Mom called. She said I was just praying for you and that you wouldn’t have to go to IRAQ. And this sweet calm came over me and the peace of God blanketed me. You’re not going to IRAQ, Moms said. I said, Mom, you’re right I am not going to IRAQ, I am going to Great Lakes.  Don’t tell me prayers can’t be answered. Moms did.

My Mom was a little hell ‘Yun growing up. She was so mean, she made life miserable for her sister and brother. Now of course I am getting this from my Aunt Teresa, and other members of my family. Mom of course denies it. Lol.

Aunt Truby, told me that she was babysitting one day for Mamaw Pauline, and had all the kids there. Well mom went out to my Grandpa’s truck took the gas cap off and poured sugar down into the gas tank. Which of course isn’t good for a vehicle. Aunt Truby said mom had been so mean that day, she just knew that the sugar in the gas tank would get mom a whipping when Grandpa got home. Lol.

Aunt Truby was waiting on my grandparents when they returned. She told them all the meanness that mom had been up to while they were gone. And the nail in mom’s coffin so to speak was the sugar in the gas tank story. Aunt Truby waited as Grandpa called mom over and asked her about it. Mom said that she had. Grandpa looked at Mom, and said, Deborah Jean if you do something like that again, I’ll not take you with me to the commissary for ice cream next time I go. Aunt Truby nearly had heart failure. Mom didn’t get a whipping like she had hoped. Grandpa just talked to mom and that was it.  I will say I had done something like that Mom would have beat me half to death.

Growing up Mom had breakfast on the table at 6:15AM sharp every morning, for Dad and me. Gravy and biscuits, sausage or bacon, and eggs. This was a daily routine. I didn’t go to school hungry. We raised our own hogs. So the meat was fresh from the farm. 

When I got home from school in the afternoon, supper was on the table at 4PM sharp. Mom believed in feeding her family. There were usually 10 people or more at supper time. Mom cooked supper at Grandpa’s house. So there was never a dull moment at supper time.

Mom was a homemaker. She didn’t work at a job other than being a homemaker and a MOM. That was her job. Some people thought she was crazy for not working a regular job. She would always say, I’m doing what God meant for me to be doing and that is taking care of my family.

There is much more I could say about my Mom. And I will write about her again I am sure. But I will stop for now. To say that she played a big role in my life is an understatement. Mom took her role as a Mom very seriously. She taught me things, while I was growing up. She taught me the importance of family. To love God, the Bible and church. She taught me to pray. Theses may not seem like important things to many. But they important to me.  Mom’s guidance and love help to make me a better person.

RAMBLINGS IN THE NIGHT.... Papaw, the Honey Bees, and Me

RAMBLINGS IN THE NIGHT…..Papaw, the Honey Bees, and Me.

            My Papaw Jim raised Honey Bees all my life. And he had me out in amongst the bee hives doing one thing or the other from the time I was old enough to walk. Pap had around 85 stands of bees. They didn’t take much work. But the benefits they offered were worth having them around.

            Now it happened like this. I was in the garden one after noon. I’m not sure what I was hoeing. Probably taters. I was only 9 or 10 at the time. I was hunkered over hoeing, when I raised up and into a swarm of bees. One of the hives had born a new queen and part of the hive left with her. From the looks of it now the hive was originally heading toward my house and the woods behind. But when I raised up they veered off toward Papaws house then on toward Uncle Verlies and Aunt Willa Maes.

            The swarm bypassed Papaws and lit on Uncle Verlies mailbox about 40 feet from Papaws house. I was the only one at home at the time. Pap Jim and Uncle Verley hadn’t gotten home from work yet. Mom was down visiting with Aunt Willa Mae. I have a got idea that they were gossiping, the good Lord only knows about what.

            So I dropped the hoe and went and got a new bee box, and toted it down to Uncle Verlies mailbox. Then ran back up to Paps and got a smoker. I lit an old rag and put it in the smoker. And headed back down. I had helped Pap do this more than once so I knew what to do.

            Did I mention that it was hot and when I was younger and it was hot outside I usually ran around in nothing but a pair of shorts. T-shirts and shoes were optional. So there I was with nothing on but a pair of shorts and flip flops on trying to get this swarm of bees into the bee box. Well Pap had taught me the difference between the queen and the drone or worker bees. Well it didn’t take me long to find the queen. I reached in coaxed the queen onto my hand.

            Now when the queen climbed into my hand the other bees followed suit. So there I am with this young queen bee in my hand. I should point out here that my hand was open so as not to squish the queen.  The other bees were climbing all over my hand and up my arm to the elbow.

            I was just trying to coax the queen out of my hand and into the bee box when Papaw Jim and Uncle Verley drove up on the scene. And about that same time Mom and Aunt Willa Mae came out of the house and onto the front porch. Well Mom takes one look at me and started screaming that I was getting stung to death. I should put in right here that I was not getting stung to death. I was standing there all normal for someone who had about 50,000 bees crawling all over his arm. Papaw told Mom to hush, that I was alright and nothing bad was going to happen to me.

            Papaw stopped the truck in the middle of the road. Uncle Verley and he got out of the truck and walked over to me. I’m standing there looking at Papaw. And Papaw has the biggest grin on his face. He patted Uncle Verley the shoulder. Then he looked at me and said, now be gentle with her and get her into the box. He was saying this while grinning from ear to ear. Now the swarm was crawling over my left arm. I am a lefty so it just seemed natural to pick the queen up with my left hand.

            With my right hand I found the young queen again and let her crawl onto my right fore finger. Then I set her down right in front of the slit that opens up into the bee box. The moment she crawled off my finger the swarm melted off my left arm and followed the queen into the bee box and their new home. Papaw patted me on the back and said well done. Couldn’t have done better myself.

            He asked how I got the bee box down there. I told him that I toted it down. Which was not easy by the way. I weighed maybe 80 lbs. The bee box weighed 10 or 20 lbs, and was bulky. I found the lighter in the shed next to the smoker and old rags. It was simple really. I had seen Papaw do many times.

            Papaw and Uncle Verley set the new bee hive in the bed of Papaws truck and drove it up to where the other hives were set. Then set it up in its new place and that was the end of that.  And I didn’t even get stung. Which is surprising.

            Now once a year if pollen was plentiful we robbed the bee hives to gather the honey hiding there in. The bees weren’t ever happy when we did this. It disrupted their day. But we’d rob them. We’d take the supers and lay them on folded out newspaper, so we wouldn’t get honey all over the floors. Then we would bring in the extractor.

            The honey extractor was this big dark green monstrosity that was circular, and had four slots that the frames set on. Then on top was a crank that we would turn at a fast spin which causes the honey to fly out and on the wall of the extractor then collect at the bottom of the extractor. There was a drain. There was a lever that once pulled up would open the drain and let the honey pour forth. We’d have quart jars waiting for the honey.

            In some of the quart jars we’d put honey comb and others nothing but pure honey. Papaws house would smell so good for weeks after. We ate a lot of honey growing up. We used it in cooking. And we’d sell part of it also.

            I guess I should say here that I have been stung by bees, many times. It was usually because I was running around bare footed and accidently step on a bee while running through the yard.

RAMBLINGS IN THE NIGHT..... My HEROES growing up.

RAMBLINGS IN THE NIGHT…..My Heroes growing up.

What is a hero? I looked up the definition of hero in the dictionary, just to give you what it means.   A hero is a person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. HMMM very interesting, description of a hero. Why is it typically a man? Women can be heroes. I understand why a hero is admired. They are usually courageous and brave. They also possess qualities that noble and qualities we wish to see in ourselves.

Now you are probably wondering what the hell I am going to be talking about tonight. If you asked someone today who their hero is most young people and adults would probably say something like, so and so sports star, or some musician, even a politician maybe. Some would say a parent or a grandparent. A few years ago the slogan or catch phrase was, “I wanna be like Mike.” There was even a movie, “Be Like Mike.”  Yes Michael Jordan was a great basketball star. He made millions of dollars. And I’m sure that he has done some remarkable things with his money.

That doesn’t scream hero to me. When I think of hero, I picture brave men and women achieving something in the face of insurmountable odds. Like a fireman rushing into a blazing building to save a life, at the risk of losing his or her own life. The brave men and women, who on a daily basis put their lives on the line, and go by the name Sailor, Marine, or Soldier. To me these are real heroes.

Now when I was growing up in the last century…lol that would be the 70’s and the 80’s, my heroes were my Grandpa Jim and my Uncle Delmas. They were my heroes for different reasons. My Grandpa Jim was my hero because he rescued me out of a difficult situation. He had to put up with me during my teenage years. That is enough to make anyone a hero…lol Uncle Delmas was my hero from the time I was a small child til now. I remember being at Zane Buchanan’s stores with my Mom and Dad, I might have been 5 years old. Uncle Delmas came in, and was speaking to my Dad. Dad introduced me to Uncle Delmas, and he gave me a quarter.

Now a quarter does not seem like a lot of money by today’s standards. And it’s not. But for a child in 1975 a quarter could buy a lot of candy. There was something about Uncle Delmas that has stuck with me all these years since Dad first introduced us. It was a mix of things, like the way he carried himself, he was confident, and most of all he had compassion and kindness.

I remember as I got older and was able to do things. He would come and get me to help him on his farm. Uncle Delmas owned his own Construction Company, D. L. Shuler Construction. He started it himself and later brought in my Uncle JJ into the business. I’ll tell you about Uncle JJ sometime in a different story. But Uncle Delmas had a farm and raised cattle. So hay had to be cut and put up to feed the cattle during the winter months. So when I was old enough to help out on the farm he would get me to work for him. I loved his farm. We would work and do what needed to be done. And during lunch we’d fix bologna and tomato sandwiches with mayo and black pepper, and wash it down with an RC Cola. If it was work that allowed us to communicate with each other while we were working he would tell me stories about growing up when he was a kid. Or about the Great War, referring to WWII.  

Now it was during the summer of my 19^th or 20^th year. Uncle Delmas asked me to help him out for a couple of weeks putting up a new fence along the creek on his farm. He had a pile of old phone poles and we cut them into 10 foot sections. Then we shaved off one end to so it looked like a stake. These 10 foot post weighed over a hundred lbs. and it took both of us to life them up onto the spike end. Then we would maneuver it into position where Uncle Delmas wanted it. Then he would get on his backhoe and using the back bucket drive the post into the ground, with me holding the post upright, while he was beating it into the ground. Yes I was a little nervous, but I trusted Uncle Delmas with my life and knew he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me.

We’d stop off each day for lunch and set on the patio with our sandwiches and RC Colas and I’d listen to him tell about life. His life. We were having lunch and he got to talking about WWII.  He was telling me about going to France and landing at Normandy. About the march from France through to Germany. He was there on D-Day. My Grandma Rubies brother Uncle Ray was there as well. Uncle Delmas saw him get blowed up. They were good friends and grew up together. I listened as he told me of the awfulness of war, and he hoped I never had to live through it. I set and listened to him as tears run down his cheeks about losing family and friends over there. And he wondered why he survived and they didn’t. My grandma Pauline’s Brother Uncle Bud was there with Delmas and Ray. Uncle Bud made to Germany. Then he was killed, blown up.

Uncle Delmas is 93 yrs. old. If he lives til May of this year he will be 94. And though he doesn’t farm or raise cattle any more, he is still pretty active. Last spring I went home for the funeral of my Aunt Ruth, Uncle Delmas’ sister. My Grandpa Carl’s sister. Though I don’t live back home as always it put a smile on Uncle Delmas face when I walked in. I followed behind him in the funeral procession, as we headed from the funeral home the cemetery at Mountain Creek Baptist Church. I let Uncle Delmas lean on me as we walked to the graveside for the preacher to say last rites.

I had planned to leave immediately after the graveside service and head back to Asheville. But I changed my plans because Delmas asked me to stay a while. I couldn’t refuse his request. Here was a man that I looked up too while growing up and hung around. Whatever he wanted I was glad to do.

Now my earliest memories have my Grandpa Jim in them. He was there all my life. His house was situated just below the house I grew up in. Growing up we ate supper at his house. Mom cooked supper every night for the whole family. There would be 15 to 20 people there at supper time. Papaw Jim watched me grow up. I was 25 yrs. old when he passed away on 06^th of August 1996. He was 80 yrs. old.

Now Papaw Jim saved my life. The summer between my 8^th grade year and my starting high school in the 9^th grade, my parents started having marital problems. I’ll not bore you with the details other than to say that their problems were causing me problems. To the point that one afternoon in the early fall of my freshman year of high school I got home from school and walked straight into Papaw Jims house and said we needed to talk.

He could tell that I was serious and that something important was on my mind. I think my request sort of came as a shock to him. I asked him to let me move in with him. He asked why. I told him that Mom and Dad fought and argued all the time, from sun up to sun set. I wasn’t getting enough sleep because of it and it was affecting my grades at school. Papaw listened to everything I had to say and my reason for moving out of my home and into his.  He studied on my request for about two breathes and said go get your things and bring them on down.

I walked up to the house. Mom and Dad were in the kitchen when I walked in. They were arguing about God only knows what it was about now. I walked straight to my bedroom and started packing the things I wanted to move in with Papaw. Mom comes in and asks what I thought I was doing and I told her I was moving in with Papaw Jim. She said NO YOU ARE NOT. And I said YES I AM. She threatened to give me a whooping if I didn’t put my clothes back in the closest. And about that time my salvation came through the door. Papaw walked in looked at Mom and said Deborah Jean the boy is moving in with me and that is the end of the discussion.

Mom tried to argue with Papaw, but he held up his hand and told her to be quiet. He told her that the fussing and fighting that she and dad were doing was disruptive and it was causing me stress. He said I didn’t need to be living in that type of environment. So I collected my things and left. A few days later Mom and Dad split up. Mom moved in with my Grandma Pauline. Dad stayed in the house, but I wasn’t safe from his anger and hate of Mom.

Dad would wait until Papaw left for his job each morning then he would descend on me as I was trying to get ready for school and cuss me out. Talk to me like a dog and then rake Mom over the coals. This went on for a couple of months before Papaw intervened and rescued me again. Dad came in one morning thinking that Papaw had left for work and started in on me. Cussing me like a dog. What Dad didn’t know was that Papaw was in the kitchen. Papaw listened to the cussing for just long enough for Dad to get wound up and going when Papaw stepped into the living and tore my Dad a new asshole. Let’s just stop and say that my Dad never again stepped foot into Papaw house while I lived there.

These two men Papaw Jim and Uncle Delmas were and are my heroes. I looked up to them while I was growing up. And even after I was grown I came to them for advice and guidance. Their words of wisdom to me as a young teenager and young man still resound in my mind. No they are not famous. They didn’t or don’t live in million dollar mansions. But I wouldn’t trade them for any sports start or movie star. Can you say that about your heroes?

WRITTEN 28FEB2016