This afternoon I spent time with my Mee Maw because 1. I love her and 2. Tomorrow is her birthday. She doesn't need a single thing, so I took her a bouquet of pink and orange tulips, which turned out to be very beautiful if I do say so myself. I was going to be a good blogger and take a picture of them before delivery to load on here, but my camera battery is dead thus making that impossible for the time being.
While visiting with Mee Maw, we talked about so many different things, but ended up settling on stories of how she and my Paw Paw (he passed away in 1995) got started. Most of the information I have heard before, but I still always enjoy hearing them again. She and my Paw Paw got married in 1952 with her being a year older than him. She had dated another guy for a long time while in high school, but once she met John Willingham, the other became history. Mee Maw said that her mother once commented that Paw Paw's car could probably drive itself to their house since it made the trip so often! They married in March and three months to the day after they got married he was drafted (this was during the Korean Conflict). My Paw Paw was a pretty smart guy who knew how to get himself out of things he didn't want to do. For example...He told superiors that he was allergic to the soap used to wash dishes so he didn't have to...Volunteered to wash cars for superiors to get on their good side (for when he would sneak out to see his bride)...Joined up with the Air Force to avoid going overseas (because he knew the training time for that was longer than the time he had left in service). :) What a character!
After Paw Paw got out of service, he went back to working in sewing rooms and my Mee Maw bank to working in banks. They moved around several times--always because my grandfather found a better working opportunity. He started driving chicken trucks for another man in town until he came to the realization that if the other man could make money doing it then so could he. So, "they went in debt for a truck," Mee Maw said. She had to "practically teach him how to write a check" to pay for the chickens and then he would drive the chicks to their final destination that they would lose all of their feathers en route. This was so he could get back home to deposit the new check so that the other would not bounce!
Mee Maw always mixes her stories with advice whether she intends to or not and I love her for it. She is an amazing woman who handles every situaion with a dignity and grace that is masked with humility--a lesson to us all. I am very thankful to have her in my life and feel blessed that my family has such a wonderful matriarch!
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