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Mountains and Ma |
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I just have to tell you about the mountains of Virginia and Ma. Ma was not my birth mother and actually no family relation to me at all, as I am half sister to all my siblings. Ma was my half sister Ginny's real grandmother.
Ginny finally had to take my brother and myself to the mountains of Virginia where her family lived. I did say "mountains" didn't I? Please understand that I am in no way degrading my childhood and the mountains of Virginia. I am simply telling the story of my life, in the same truthful manner as I tell the rest of it. There experiences which happened to me there which have made me a better person, and certainly some which emotionally scared me for life. I can look back now and see through rose colored glasses if you will, the beauty of the mountains, rather than all the pain.
As the years go by, I have more and more respect for Ma, and thank God she was there to take Adam and myself in, when no one else did. She gave the absolute best she could at her age, trying to rear two little children without hardly any help from anyone. If she were here to read these stories, I'm almost positive, she would have a rip roarin' big laugh out of it all. My hat is off with a bow of the knee to Ma, for providing a "semi" roof over our heads, and food.....whenever she could. In my own way, I am honoring her through laughter, for the sacrifices she made when I was a child. It's best to remember some of our journey in life with a grin on our face, and a smile in our hearts.
Everyone said Ma was a little "tetched" in the head, but I think she was just doing the best she could with what she had, which was nothing. When I say "nothin", I mean "nothin". There were times when all Ma had to feed Adam and I, was polk salad and bread baked from hog middlin(that was feed for the pigs). Ma would go up the creek to Uncle Willie's and Aunt Reva's who had 9 children of their own. Sometimes even they were running low and all they had to offer was the hog middlin.
The first home I can recollect in the mountains was actually very scenic. Coming around the bend and down the little hill, across the meadow one could see the little house nestled among the big oak and cedar trees. Wild roses grew in abundance at the back of the house, nearly reaching the roof. In the winter, it was quite picturesque, snow banks 6 foot high in some places covered the meadow.
When my sister, with brother Adam and I, came on the scene, there were 19 people living in this little one room house. I think our presence somehow scared about half of them off. I do not recall all the very early years, and when I begin to be aware of my surroundings, I must have been about 4 years old. My sister says my first words weren't Ma or Sis, but beer! I liked it, and anytime I wanted it, it was there.
Well, back to Ma. She was a busy little person, always had some kind of project going. She was a pretty lady and had long beautiful wavy, grey hair, always up in a bun. Her life had not had been easy either and now here she was with 2 little children to try and care for. She knew I was not her son's daughter, but loved me anyway. A very destructive love, that presented severe problems in my life, but nevertheless, she loved me, with the exclusion of almost everyone else.
Ma's assessment of the old house was that it needed a basement. Why it needed a basement I do not know, because there sure wasn't anything to put in it. But Ma thought every good house needed a basement. She tried to solicit help from the men folk, but they were too busy doing.....something. She dug and dug, until the room began to tilt downward toward the front of the house. The men put their heads together and thought, maybe they had just drank too much, so they ignored the whole house-tilting situation. Finally, one day my older brother Thomas was sitting in the front of the house, and the chair began sliding to the front of the room. Later, the potbellied stove came loose, broke free of its celing pipe and sailed to the front of the house, with soot going everywhere. The menfolk finally concluded that they would have to put a stop to Ma's new project. But Ma was not to be outdone, she just came up with other much needed projects.
I'll be sharing more about Ma and the mountains all through my story. My life is so intense and sad at times, the funny events that occured in the mountains has been one thing that has gotten me through. A good laugh can clear away the fog and make the sun shine.
Ginny finally had to take my brother and myself to the mountains of Virginia where her family lived. I did say "mountains" didn't I? Please understand that I am in no way degrading my childhood and the mountains of Virginia. I am simply telling the story of my life, in the same truthful manner as I tell the rest of it. There experiences which happened to me there which have made me a better person, and certainly some which emotionally scared me for life. I can look back now and see through rose colored glasses if you will, the beauty of the mountains, rather than all the pain.
As the years go by, I have more and more respect for Ma, and thank God she was there to take Adam and myself in, when no one else did. She gave the absolute best she could at her age, trying to rear two little children without hardly any help from anyone. If she were here to read these stories, I'm almost positive, she would have a rip roarin' big laugh out of it all. My hat is off with a bow of the knee to Ma, for providing a "semi" roof over our heads, and food.....whenever she could. In my own way, I am honoring her through laughter, for the sacrifices she made when I was a child. It's best to remember some of our journey in life with a grin on our face, and a smile in our hearts.
Everyone said Ma was a little "tetched" in the head, but I think she was just doing the best she could with what she had, which was nothing. When I say "nothin", I mean "nothin". There were times when all Ma had to feed Adam and I, was polk salad and bread baked from hog middlin(that was feed for the pigs). Ma would go up the creek to Uncle Willie's and Aunt Reva's who had 9 children of their own. Sometimes even they were running low and all they had to offer was the hog middlin.
The first home I can recollect in the mountains was actually very scenic. Coming around the bend and down the little hill, across the meadow one could see the little house nestled among the big oak and cedar trees. Wild roses grew in abundance at the back of the house, nearly reaching the roof. In the winter, it was quite picturesque, snow banks 6 foot high in some places covered the meadow.
When my sister, with brother Adam and I, came on the scene, there were 19 people living in this little one room house. I think our presence somehow scared about half of them off. I do not recall all the very early years, and when I begin to be aware of my surroundings, I must have been about 4 years old. My sister says my first words weren't Ma or Sis, but beer! I liked it, and anytime I wanted it, it was there.
Well, back to Ma. She was a busy little person, always had some kind of project going. She was a pretty lady and had long beautiful wavy, grey hair, always up in a bun. Her life had not had been easy either and now here she was with 2 little children to try and care for. She knew I was not her son's daughter, but loved me anyway. A very destructive love, that presented severe problems in my life, but nevertheless, she loved me, with the exclusion of almost everyone else.
Ma's assessment of the old house was that it needed a basement. Why it needed a basement I do not know, because there sure wasn't anything to put in it. But Ma thought every good house needed a basement. She tried to solicit help from the men folk, but they were too busy doing.....something. She dug and dug, until the room began to tilt downward toward the front of the house. The men put their heads together and thought, maybe they had just drank too much, so they ignored the whole house-tilting situation. Finally, one day my older brother Thomas was sitting in the front of the house, and the chair began sliding to the front of the room. Later, the potbellied stove came loose, broke free of its celing pipe and sailed to the front of the house, with soot going everywhere. The menfolk finally concluded that they would have to put a stop to Ma's new project. But Ma was not to be outdone, she just came up with other much needed projects.
I'll be sharing more about Ma and the mountains all through my story. My life is so intense and sad at times, the funny events that occured in the mountains has been one thing that has gotten me through. A good laugh can clear away the fog and make the sun shine.
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