Old Friends
This is Granny and Johnny Tucker; old friends since he was a boy... Granny loved Tuck as one of her own. You can tell be the look in her face and from the look of this picture she was letting us all know that as well!
Those who have read Healing Heartaches may remember reading about my dear Tuck... he was one of my hero's when I was little and I am quite sure he joined in with my uncles in using me for a football to toss around in the yard when they grew tired of the regulation size ball! Guess a little kid with flailing arms and legs was a bit more of a challenge to the varsity players of the Dublin Dukes! It worked quite well until Granny would appear on the porch and yell at them to "let the baby down" and then promptly have a fainting spell! God Bless "smelling salts"...
Once Granny was up and at em again, the boys would claim to be hungry, I remember them always being hungry, and Granny would have a pot of pinto beans on the stove and feed them all with a pan of cornbread to go with it!
Tuck loved Granny long after tragedy hit our family and my Uncle Doyle was killed in a car crash... he loved Granny long after tragedy claimed his three children in a fatal car crash in the seventies... he loved Granny long after death took his parents and death took more of our family members. He would come and visit Granny each time he was in the area; and oh how she loved his visits. They shared a true and unconditional love through the many years together. Old friends indeed... don't think they ever pitched pennies in a park though! But they did drink a lot of coffee and eat a lot of pintos together!
In the final edits of Healing Heartaches I was in such a hurry, such a rush that I made a terrible typo... it was of course discovered by my Mother... who else discovers your mistakes? When she pointed it out to me, I was on the email to Tuck; sending him my heartfelt apologies, asking him to forgive my hasty final edit of the book, wanting him to hear it from me before he read it in print. You see... I knew that Johnny had three young sons who died tragically in a car wreck; I knew they were buried in Dublin Virginia, side by side with matching flowers always on their graves... I often visited their graves when I was in town.
But in haste to get the book through the final edit, I had written "two" and it just slipped by me... don't know how, don't know why, it just did. Oh how I felt ...
Johnny was Johnny... His reply? "Sherry Honey, it's OK, I know you know there are three"! Only Tuck I thought, only Tuck would be so understanding, so loving. I guess that's one of the reasons Granny took him as her own so long ago; he is just sweet and understanding that way. He has a smile that would light up a room. He is a man with integrity; a man who has walked through the ravaging storms of grief and trauma surviving the loss of three young sons... He is a survivor, a warrior, and I am proud to call him my friend and still a kid's hero and part of my extended family.
I just know that Granny is taking care of those Tucker boys on the other side, they are probably with my uncles and heaven help us all with the mischief they must be getting into with them! They probably find baby cherubs and use them for footballs if my uncles have any say in it and I sure hope there is no need for smelling salts in heaven!
I guess you noticed... Granny did love her jewelry! Guess that is runs in the blood as well.
I've re-connected with Tuck in 2009 and got to tell him about The Compassionate Friends world wide candle lighting event, and found out where his local chapter was holding theirs! He and his family attended and he said it was wonderful! He lit three candles and spoke the boys names as he remembered them with many others in 2009. It may be the beginning of a new tradition for the Tucker family and for that I give thanks... and so it is good!
What are you doing good for you today? What memory sustains, entertains or brings a smile to your face and heart? Think about it, find something to lift your spirit and your day bringing you to that sacred state of amazing grace!
Blessings to you and your memories and your new beginnings!
Walk In Beauty
author of Healing Heartaches, (parts of this blog will be found in the book!)
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3 comments:
On your friend " Tuck " :
Good friends are hard to find and KEEP.
Glad you re-connected with him & passed on
healing info about candle lightening
I cherish my long-time friends of 35-40 years
I am a " F I R M " believer. IRM
Cool blog cause I can afford the fixins for pinto bean, cornbraed and I can even afford birdseed to spell out i'm sorry to the birds.
If you hve someine to say your sorry to u are lucky and should do say. If you get to see a dead body or u get to go to a funeral u r lucky and consider that a big blessings vause we don't all get to see a dead body or have a funeral. off to get my beans, cormeal, and birseed. thanks for a good helpful blog for all.
I have recently reconnected w/childhood friends from Rocky Mount, NC and here in VA. It's funny how now our kids go to school together and they are hopefully making that "friendship" connection as well.
Loved your story of Granny and Tuck...can't remember meeting him but I have heard so many stories over the years.
And yes our love for jewerly runs in the family and we get it from our beloved Granny~~
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