Childhood Memories! 💌 I remember Momma working two jobs to make ends meet when we were small. Raising three girls on her own was not easy. She worked in restaurants as a waitress. Maw-Maw Atchley kept us while she worked. We also had a nanny that lived in Childersburg in the projects that took care of us as well. We also had a baby sitter that lived on Twin Street near Avondale Mills. When Momma would come to get us after she worked her shifts, I can remember the smell of food on Momma, a smell that continues to stay with me to this day. She did whatever she could to keep food on the table and to keep the lights on.. We moved from one rental house to another rental house a lot. I remember one cold night the power was turned off. She had one wood log to keep us warm that night. Even though she was hungry, she always made sure we had something to eat. She did without to make sure her girls were fed. One of my favorite memories of being a child was playing in the rain. I remember getting off the bus with my sisters and we would not see Mom till dark. At the time, we did not live that far from Maw-Maw Atchley.. We walked to her house some days after school. I remember a few times where Melody would get mad at Momma. Melody would pack her panties in a brown paper grocery bag and she threatened to run away to her Maw-Maws, which she did accomplish a couple of times. All she needed was her panties! Melody was a little Dianne back in the day. Melody would throw her tantrums where she would lay in the floor and kick her feet so hard to where she would be moving in complete circles, around and around until Melody finally got what she wanted.. Melodys first day of Kindergarten was not good as well. She managed to run away by exiting a window at Pinecrest School in Sylacauga. Momma was surely paying for her raising. Maw-Maw Atchley babied Melody which did not make things any easier. I will never forget the time when Melody fell out of the moving car due to the car door not being closed all the way. When she fell out of the car, Momma stopped the car and Melody got up from the pavement and asked Momma Why did you throw me out for.. Needless to say, we had a lot of excitement during this time in our life.. Missy and I just kind of went with the flow. Melody kept getting all of the attention. LOL Later, Momma started seeing Wayne. He had two girls and one boy. Momma and Wayne met at a restaurant where Momma was waitressing. We ended up spending a lot of time with Wayne and his family. I remember going back and fourth between his house and our house a lot. We lived off of Main in a duplex apartment. Carolyn would come by with her dates. I remember this guy named Wolf that she had around some. Wayne would had been upset with Momma if he would have know that Carolyn was making out with boys on the hood of the car. LOL While in this same rental duplex I remember getting up and helping Momma with Bozo. He was not even a year old at this time. The little momma that I was, I placed Bozo in his high-chair for Momma to help her out.. Not thinking anything about the coffee pot being close by.. Bozo pulled the cord of the coffee pot which caused the coffee pot to turn over. Bozo received 2nd and 3rd degree burns. I will never forget that day ever. I remember us girls going with Momma to hospital with him. They placed him in a whirlpool tub. Bozo screamed and I cried! While visiting Wayne, us kids were not allowed to come in the house until supper time. We spent much of our days playing outside under the Mimosa tree at the picnic table. I remember watching Wayne and Paw-Paw Hay fry a couple of pigs under that shade tree. Pigs that we fed daily! It upset me knowing those pigs were killed and then eaten. We played in the barn and cow pastures and played in the creek. I will never forget the time Missy was missing in action. We could not find her anywhere! Needless to say, she got into Maw-Maw Hays lipstick. She had lipstick all over her clothes and her face. She knew she was going to get in trouble. So Missy hid under Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw Hays house to keep from being seen. The whole Hay family searched and searched for her until she was found.. Momma and Wayne fell in love. So we ended up moving in with Wayne. Needless to say, we kind of felt like the Brady Bunch! Momma started LPN school to help make our life a little easier. Bozo was almost a year old before Momma and Wayne tided the knot. Now there was a total of 7 kids to take care of.. Wayne worked at Royal Tire for many many years. Momma had this man spoiled rotten! I remember she would make his lunch in this stackable sterling silver food container every single day. Momma was a LPN nurse in Sylacauga. Carolyn became our babysitter. She practically raised Bozo while Momma and Wayne worked. She took care of us all during this time. She had Bozo rotten. His butt had to be patted before he would even go to sleep. I remember patting his butt several times to give Carolyn a break.. Stephanie was Waynes baby! She had a lot of toys. We could play with her toys some but not much. She did not know how to share at the time. Stephanie had to adjust quickly with having three extra girls around. The saddest thing ever was watching Stephanie looking out that window waiting on her biological mother to pick her up for a weekend visit and remembering the disappointment that Stephanie felt when her mother did not show. I remember Momma holding Stephanie on this certain day while Stephanie cried her little eyes out. Momma loved Waynes kids just as much as she loved her own. I remember Joey always fixing his bike. He would have the bike upside down with his shirt off. He would always make us girls wipe sweat off of his back with his shirt. Carolyn and Joey was older so whatever they asked of us we done. I remember Wayne and Momma would load us kids in the car. We would ride the country roads with the windows down. Momma and Wayne loved to walk in the woods to find different kind of wild flowers. They would discuss between the two of them the type of flower they would find. We also spent a lot of time with Paw-Paw Hay.. He had an Oak tree that he always babied. I remember Paw-Paw Hay watering that tree with a hose pipe every single day. I remember spending our summers outside. We were barefoot as always! We never put on a pair of shoes during the summer months. I also remember having to hang clean clothes out on a clothes line. I remember the clothes being frozen solid when taking clothes off the clothes line due to the freezing temperatures in the winter months. I remember one Christmas, Wayne built us a playhouse out of wood. We played in the playhouse with our baby dolls a lot. I remember Momma and Wayne listening to music a lot when we were growing up. I loved to watch Momma two-step dance. She loved to dance. She made dancing look so easy! Melody inherited her dancing moves for sure.. The day came when the old Hay place on Shelvon Rock Rd was sold to the quarry. We then moved to Seven Sweetgums Rd. A lot more memories were made there.. We played on hay bells, and played in the barn. One of my favorite memories was catching lightening bugs. Wayne taught us how to tie a piece of thread to a June bug. We held on to the thread for dear life to watch the June bug fly like a kite. We played in the cow pasture till dark. We even had to work in the vegetable garden. This is a reason why I do not have a garden today. I remember working in that garden was just too much work. Momma and Wayne both continued work hard to help provide for us kids. During our time there, we went thru two house fires, Wayne getting hurt on the job which eventually kept him from working, and the diagnosis of Maw-Maw Atchleys lung cancer, plus Momma ended up loosing her job as an LPN nurse.. Tough times continued.. Momma and Wayne fought and fought to keep things above water. Wayne finally got on disability. Momma moved in Maw-Maw Atchley to help take care of her due to her cancer and chemo treatments. Momma started baking and selling cakes to help make ends meet. After Maw-Maw Atchley passed away, Momma took in Waynes uncle, Porter Morris, James Suddenth, and later Jimmy Hay to help make ends meet. She took care of them till their last days. Hard times continued for our family but Momma always made things look as if things were always ok. She always managed to keep things together. Yes, she was the glue to our family! We always had extra kids at the house. Not sure how she continued to feed everyone but she always managed to pull things thru. She looked at life as to not to strive on the things that we could not change or strive on the things that we could not have but she always made sure we learned to appreciate what we did have. She taught us that material things was not as important. Her focus on life was to take care of her family thru love and sacrifices even if this meant placing her needs on the side burner. She continued to do this until her last breath. What a legacy she left us! She taught us so much about this world that we all can personally take with us until our last days. We will carry her teachings with us until our last breath. She was an amazing mother, sister, cousin, aunt, sister-n-law, daughter-n-law, teacher, caregiver, friend, and also a second mother to a lot of kids from the Fayetteville community. We did not have a lot of material things but I can honestly say that we were loved! I would say God had shown us the work of his angels on this earth thru my mothers work! My mother gained her angel wings last year on November the 18th.. What a joyous day this was! She completed her work here on this earth.. She finally made it to heaven. Momma was healed from her sickness, and she was finally reconnected with her husband and her family members. She lived her life on this earth without never having a resting bone in her body.. She is now in heaven celebrating! She no longer has to deal with the everyday stress that life had thrown out at her, and she is no longer in any kind of pain! This is exactly what God promises us! He never said that life was going to be easy or fair on this earth but what a joyous day it will be when we meet him on the other side of the pearly gates! I know her and Wayne are looking down on us each and every day! I know for a fact that their legacy will continue to live on through us kids and grandkids and great grandkids! I am so thankful for their teachings, and their love, but most of all I am thankful for Momma and Wayne teaching us that no matter what life throws out at us that anything can be possible ~ thru unconditional love and sacrifices which they lived by each and every day! It is tough not having her here with us especially thru the holidays! I miss you Momma every second, every minute of every single day! ~ Debbie The House That Built Me ~Miranda Lambert I know they say you cant go home again. I just had to come back one last time. Maam I know you dont know me from Adam. But these hand prints on the front steps are mine. Up those stairs, in that little back bedroom Is where I did my homework and I learned to play guitar. And I bet you didnt know, under that live oak My favorite dog is buried in the yard. I thought if I could touch this place or feel it This brokenness inside me might start healing. Out here its like Im someone else, I thought that maybe I could find myself If I could just come in I swear Ill leave. Wont take nothing but a memory From the house that built me. Mama cut out pictures of houses for years. From Better Homes and Garden magazines. Plans were drawn, concrete poured, And nail by nail and board by board Daddy gave life to mamas dream. I thought if I could touch this place or feel it This brokenness inside me might start healing. Out here its like Im someone else, I thought that maybe I could find myself. If I could just come in I swear Ill leave. Wont take nothing but a memory From the house that built me. You leave home, you move on and you do the best you can. I got lost in this old world and forgot who I am. I thought if I could touch this place or feel it This brokenness inside me might start healing. Out here its like Im someone else, I thought that maybe I could find myself. If I could walk around I swear Ill leave. Wont take nothing but a memory From the house that, built me.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 20:22:49 +0000
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