It wasn’t uncommon for strangers to pull into our driveway while I was growing up. If we were outside, the strangers rolled down their windows and stuck their heads out.

“Hey! Did you all know you got a cow out?”

I grew up on my Papaw’s farm where he had lots and lots of cows. To me, the cows were big, scary and stinky. When I got older, they were just stinky.

Bull Run Creek ran through his farm and Pedigo Road bisected it. Our church used to baptize there next to the bridge. Now, the bridge is known as the “Mary Lou Horner Memorial Bridge.”

It was once believed that taking pain medication and getting some rest and relaxation were the best course of treatment for a bout of low-back pain, but nowadays research supports first trying drug-free, conservative options for pain management while remaining as active as possible during recuperation.

We never ate pork chops when I was a youngster. Pork steak was cheaper. When you find a meat you can afford, your next task is to find a way to fix it that the family will eat. We loved pork steak fixed Mother's way.

Life savers are important people–be it a doctor, nurse or someone who pulled you out of harms way. Frank “Tommy” Sharp is one of us even though he left Union County for the Atlanta area many years ago. A few years ago Frank had some serious heart problems, and he credits his cardiologist with saving his life. Dr. Michael Lesitt first did a bypass when Frank had a heart attack and then a quadruple bypass to bring him back to good health. Dr. Lesitt, who Frank says is a man of many talents, plays the mountain dulcimer and has been president of the Georgia Dulcimer Society.

MILLIGAN COLLEGE, Tenn. (May 15, 2018) ― Leslie Ann Beeler, of Maynardville, TN, graduated from Milligan College on Saturday, May 5, during spring commencement, in which Milligan awarded over 180 degrees. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science and Psychology. Milligan is a Christian liberal arts college in Johnson City, Tennessee, whose vision is to change lives and shape culture through a commitment to servant leadership.

Who was accepted in the draft during World War II? Any man breathing without a wooden leg, or so it seemed. At the last class we learned of a man who was blind in one eye. He was drafted. Of course he didn't see combat, but he did serve in the motor pool at a base in Texas. The armed forces are much different now. I doubt he would be called to serve, if there was still a draft. The draft back then was more of a lottery. Numbers were drawn by members of the local draft board. Many a man waited anxously to see if his number came up.

2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV
[14] If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Mincey’s Musings
Year One, Week Nineteen

In his book, Who You Are When No One’s Looking: Choosing Consistency, Resisting Compromise, Bill Hybels says that character can be determined by what we do when no one is looking. Character is sometimes confused with reputation, but reputation is what other people think of us. Character is not the same as success or achievement—character is not defined by what we have done, but who we are.

I have a knack for making anything into a fun adventure; even working in my grandparents’ huge garden when I was a kid.

“It’s time to go a pickin’,” my mamaw said when it was time to go to the garden. Green beans were my favorite things to “a pick.” As I dug through the vines, I pretended I was searching for buried pirate treasure and the cows in the fields behind us were keeping watch.

In adult years, it was only yesterday. In child years, it would probably seem like forever. Whatever measure you live by, the days when my children took the path between our former house and their Mamaw and Papaw’s are long gone. As I drove past the path, I brought my vehicle to a sudden stop, visualizing my children running through the grass. I have an aged and worn photograph I had taken of the two siblings as they covered the distance that lay from our house to the grandparents; but I don’t really need it to spur the memory. I realized today that it is forever etched in my mind’s eye.