Stories From Under A Bootheel (Rants, Laughs, and Tears)

Chapter 10 To Our Children's Children's Children

"Walk on, walk on

With hope in your heart

And you'll never walk alone"

"You'll never walk alone," by Rodgers and Hammerstein

Those who have read my "Sharing Afflictions" trilogy know I never pass up a chance to take my chapter titles from popular music or include a song lyric. The title of this chapter is also the title of one of the latter albums of my most favorite music group from my childhood, The Moody Blues. The album was the first I ever owned. It was a gift as was the stereo for me to play it on from my Papa's sister, my Great Aunt Lillian. She was my favorite aunt. She taught science for over 40 years and would have taught longer had they not implemented a mandatory retirement age. She was beloved by all her students. Bill tells me she was one of his favorites. She knew nothing about the Moody Blues' music. She just liked the title. It seemed appropriate to her at the time. She never had any children other than her students, so I think for her the title applied to all her student's children as well. I think the title is likewise appropriate here too.  

This chapter is all about my message to posterity. The pictures above are of my grandparents. My father's parents on the left and my mother's parents on the right. I just noticed that the men are both smirking and the women are both glaring which is really appropriate. The icon I use on Wattpad is my grandson who shares my name and that of the grandfather on the left. I wish I had known more about both my grandfathers and so I wrote this for my posterity to get a glimpse of me.

I also wanted to preserve in writing, the cleverness of my friend Eddie in bending the rules, the courage of my friends Elliott, Bruce, and Woodson in defying authority, the loyalty of my friend Bill in always being there for me, the wisdom of Romalis and my foxhole buddy Ed, the uninhibited companionship of my friend John, the tolerance of my wife in putting up with me, the support of all my Air Force buddies back then and all my Wattpad friends now, the wit and wisdom of my father, the incredible bravery and goodness of Sweetie Pie as well as the kindness and perseverance of all our ancestors. These are all qualities I hope my grandchildren will adopt.     

Kids, you should know these qualities as well as the smirk of my grandfathers are very much present in my own son, your father. I hope you are old enough by the time you read this that you realize that. In fact, I see these qualities in all my children, but I will let them tell you their own stories.

Don't let them leave out the time your aunt Liz Ann dared her brother to put out a fireworks sparkler with his bare hand. Not nearly as bad as when my sister Ann dared me to put a turtle in my mouth and I ended up in the hospital with salmonella. That is what sisters do. They educate their brothers the hard way. I can't wait to see what Maggie Ann dares J.P into doing. It makes sense that she follows in the footsteps of the two Anns who came before her. (Maggie, this is NOT a challenge. J.P., consider yourself warned. Try to break with tradition. Your uncle Jake managed to. At least, as far as I know. They don't tell me everything.)

You never know which traits are hereditary. Hopefully, you've gotten the best ones.

Kids, your mother just posted on Facebook that to get even with your dad she commented to him, "I can't wait to see what you have planned for our special day tomorrow." She admitted in her post that there was nothing special about tomorrow. She just wanted to see the look of panic on his face as he tried to figure out what special occasion he'd forgotten. See kids, you get mischievousness from both sides.

Finally, did you learn anything? Yeah, crap happens, but so do good things. I hope you have been entertained by these stories and perhaps learned a few things. That we all make mistakes and not to depend on someone else to fix them. That sometimes it is okay to bend the rules and to stand up to authority. Just try to avoid violence, and always be careful, creative, considerate and kind and always come up with the C-ration box with the fresh orange.

They say when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. That is very good advice, but if you can, don't wait for life to give you anything. Get up early and find yourself an orange, life will be just that much better.

I took the dog for our daily walk this morning. The smoke that had blanketed the entire state from the largest fires in California's history had finally cleared and it was a beautiful day. A reminder that gloom always gives way to sunshine.

As I was walking back to the house, I stopped to take in the view.

What I could see from where I stood,

Were the three peaks near Heavenly and the surrounding wood.

I turned to look toward Emerald Bay,

And recalled the poem by St. Vincent Millay.

My Aunt Lillian not only introduced me to the Moody Blues, but in the fifth grade she gave me a book of poetry containing 101 of the greatest poems of all time. I loved them all, but my favorite was Renascence by Edna St Vincent Millay. I just reread it. Probably copywrite laws and its extended length keep me from including the entire poem here, but I can think of no better way to end this memoir so maybe I can get away with including the closing lines of that poem:

"The world stands out on either side

No wider than the heart is wide;

Above the world is stretched the sky, —

No higher than the soul is high.

The heart can push the sea and land

Farther away on either hand;

The soul can split the sky in two,

And let the face of God shine through.

But East and West will pinch the heart

That cannot keep them pushed apart;

And he whose soul is flat—the sky

Will cave in on him by and by."

This is my final message to my posterity. Extend your heart to the ultimate widths of this wide wonderful world and your soul to the endless extents of eternity. Walk on with hope in your heart, listen to life's lyrics, alliterate whenever possible, enjoy life and have fun. Having a purpose provides a great foundation for fun and enjoying life. Helping others is a great purpose.  

 Did you learn anything? Love ya!