It was early in the morning when my mom told me to get out of bed that breakfast was ready. I didnt want to get up but I knew that my dad was going to what we called the Wilds Cove to get a truck load of wood. Our house was heated by an old wood burning stove, and mom cooked on an old wood cook stove. We spent a lot of Saturdays in the woods cutting wood. Part of my dads garage was full of wood year round. I got up and made my way to the kitchen and sat down and ate my eggs and biscuits and gravy. Two of my older brothers were up also . They would be going with dad and I to cut wood. The date was October 28th 1961,and it would be a day that I would think about for the rest of my life. We finished breakfast and hurried down to the garage and climbed into the back of dads old ford pickup truck. the air was cool as we rode down the road. We were to pass my grand parents house , dad decided to stop and visit for a few minutes. I jumped out of the pickup truck and hurried into grandmas house. I smelled something so good and followed the scent into the kitchen. There on the table was some fresh biscuits and apple sauce. Granny got me a bowl of apple sauce and biscuits. I ate fast because dad was rushing me .We finally made to the woods and dad stopped and told us that we were going to load a pile of logs on the pickup. We finally got the truck loaded even though I couldnt lift much being only five years old. But next week end would be my birthday and I would be six. Dad told us to load up so we could get home and saw the logs up. As we were riding down the road my brothers were sitting on the sides of the truck with their legs hanging over the sides. I had the thought that if they could do that I could also. I crawled over to the right side of the truck and sat down by my brother. Just as I sat down my brother said dont hold on to me I have a hard enough time holding on myself. Those words still ring in my ears because those were the last words that I would remember for the next few days. The next thing I remember was waking up on Wednesday morning in the hospital. As I woke up I remember seeing my mom standing over me, and I ask her where we were at. She told me that I had fallen off of the truck and had hit my head on a rock. She went on to tell me that my dad had picked me up and laid me back down because he thought I was dead. But the guy whos house we were in front of noticed that I was still breathing and he drove me to the hospital which was about twelve miles away. I had a fractured scull and was bleeding from my mouth nose and ears. after I awoke I must have recovered quickly. I only had to spend two weeks in the hospital. Many people came to visit me, and most every one would give me money mostly change , but I had fifty five dollars when I left the hospital. In 1961 that was a lot of money. One of the visitors I had was my first grade teacher. She was a nice old lady who had told us the first day of school that if we went all year and didnt miss a day she would give us a silver dollar. I hadnt missed a day of school until then and I was disappointed that I wouldnt get the silver dollar. Before my teacher left she told me she had something for me and she handed me a silver dollar, and told me that it was her gift to me. My dad carried that old dollar in his billfold until he died. I have a lot of memories of things that happened while I was in the hospital. Maybe I will share them sometime.
Posted on: Sun, 29 Jun 2014 05:19:41 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015