Good morning guys! Welcome back, and thanks for reading.
As you know, two of Deb’s sisters came in Monday, and have those women had a good time. They stay up late and get up early. I don’t know how they do it.
Laugh, good Lord those three have laughed, and laughed. I sat with them a while last night and listened to em, till they about drove me crazy. Actually they WERE funny.
They talked about their Mama and Daddy, how they were raised and some of the things they did while growing up.
Melanie was the oldest of the seven of them, and she was telling me about how she had to “watch them” when their parents went to town. She said this started when she was 12, and she said those other six were rounders…actually she described them as heathens!
As I know the whole bunch, I can only imagine the stress of being left alone with them, 20 miles from town, by myself, at 12 years old! Phew!!
They got to talking about one time when they were all just little yard apes, and Melanie was around 16. They’d had a death in the family, their Uncle. Anyway the youngest children, Chris (7), Ted (5) and Deb (4), had no earthly idea what a funeral was, so their Daddy was trying to make them understand what this was, and was doing his best to break it down simply enough for them to grasp the situation.
Well, you know small children and their non-stop quizzing when you’ve tweaked their interest in something, and evidently from what I heard last night, that dern bunch of Hayes children’s interest had indeed been tweaked!
They were laughing and telling how their Daddy was telling them that once people passed away, that they were buried…and they all wanted to know what this meant.
Once he described this, they wanted to know if you were just put in the ground. He told them no, that you were buried in a casket…what’s a casket was the next question, so he explained what this was.
Then he explained that some people were allowed to view the body, then the casket was closed, they were taken to the cemetery, a service was held, they prayed, they might sing a hymn, and they were then covered up…this was the end of the funeral.
Well, all his explanation did was fire that bunch of “heathens up”…remember this was their oldest sister’s definition of them, not mine.
Well, after their Daddy had explained best he could, what a funeral was, they went outside to play…again Chris, Ted and Deb.
They said they hadn’t been outside very long when it came to them they would have their own funeral, and Deb had just the thing for them to have a graveside service for…her little stuffed cat from the previous Christmas.
One of em went back inside, got into Melanie’s possessions, and came back out with her new straw purse…the casket. Those three dug a hole, throwed that dern stuffed cat in that straw purse, and buried it.
Oh those women laughed and laughed about that for quite a while. Melanie claiming for years that she’d not known what had happened to her new straw purse…everybody kept telling her that they hadn’t seen it, though in fact it had been put to another use…a final resting place for Deb’s stuffed cat!
They said Chris had a little plastic piano, and she brought it out to the “graveside.” Deb said Christine was playing her piano, and they all sang Amazing Grace, followed by a prayer service. She said that you ought to have seen em, Chris playing the piano, and her and Ted holding hands…showing respect evidently. At least the poor cat had words said over it, huh?
After they’d conducted their “funeral,” they went inside and their Daddy asked where they’d been. They replied they’d been to the funeral. They were laughing about this, and said their Dad said, “No kids, the funeral’s tomorrow, and we’ll all be going.” They said, “No Daddy, we just had one outside.”
He said, “No kids, its tomorrow.” They said no, they’d just had one, and he asked whose? They told him they’d buried Deb’s stuffed cat, and also sang Amazing Grace for it, then said a prayer too.
They went to laughing again and said the only reason they didn’t get their tails tore up was on account of all the friends and family had gathered at their house for the “real” funeral, so they “lucked out” in that regard.
Your Christmas presents back then were, first of all, hard to come by, and secondly if you didn’t appreciate them, then next Christmas you may be a little “short” under the tree, and thirdly, if you abused your gifts then you stood a good chance of getting an attitude adjustment.
Deb’s told you guy’s the story of her sister Louise, and how scared she was of cats. They were laughing about that last night as well. For some reason Louise was absolutely terrified of cats, and still is to this day. Isn’t it funny the different types of phobia’s that people construe in their minds?
Well with Louise being so scared of them, this just opened a door for the rest of the heathens to just aggravate Louise to death…when the urge hit em.
Their Mama and Daddy would go to town, and they’d go to looking for Louise. They’d chase her all over the yard, all of them with a kitten in their hand, threatening to put those cats on Louise. They said Louise would run and run, until she just gave out and couldn’t run anymore.
At this point they said she’d always climb this one particular tree, and this time was no different. She’d scoot up that tree to get away from the torment her other siblings were putting her through. I asked how long she’d stay in the tree, and their response was…as long as they wanted her too!
They swore there was a time or two they left her up the tree until they saw their Mama and Daddy coming down the road…coming back from town. I asked how in the world could they keep her in the tree that long, and they said simple…they’d tie the kittens to the base of the tree, and because of this, she wouldn’t come down!
They told me that they did tote a tearin up over those hijinks from time to time. No doubt, huh? I’d of sure hated to have been a little kid who was lost, and wandered up in their yard. There’s no telling what they’d have done under those circumstances!
Anyway, as I said earlier, they’ve had a ball since coming in Monday, and Deb is sure glad they did. She’s really enjoyed them being here. This has been a nice break for her, and I do hate to see them go, but they’ll be back.
We hope you enjoyed their story, and we wish all of you the very best in all you do.
God Bless you and yours, and Deb says to tell you to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!
Dub and Deb