My mom’s dad is the only grand parent I remember, we were very close to him. In a way you could say he helped my mom raise us.
Di Di (both i’s long) was a very impatient person. Even thou it seemed to bother our mom, us kids thought it was very funny! I can remember back when I was nine (and even older) he would drive up to our house (we lived in town) when he would run out of his favorite chewing tobacco, he would wake me up and tell me he needed me to go to the store for him. I would say, Di Di I need to brush my hair, he would tell me that I was fine and I would just crawl in the car and go. (He always called me his little whirl wind) He owned his own country store, but when he ran out of his favorite kind, he wouldn’t take from the box he sold out of the store. He didn’t want to run out what he had for his customers before his next truck would run.
We would go down Di Di’s once a week and when we got there he would tell us to get what candy we wanted for the day and we couldn’t come back for more. I would always get a Chocolate Soldier, a fudge cycle, 3 pieces of gum. I would also go back to his slicer and cut me 2 pieces of ham and 2 pieces of cheese. I would hear him tell some of the guys that sit at the store all day that my mom’s kids never got too much and he could not let the other grand kids do that because they would go over board. Plus, they all live right there close and he said that they got more/had more than us. It never bothered me; in my eyes it just meant we were special! (We were to him and him to us!) (My mom was raising 4 kids by herself, so he was there like a dad in so many ways.)
Di Di would come to our house every Tuesday night and Saturday night to eat supper. He would always bring us a Hershey’s candy bar and after supper we would put it in the oven and melt it, then go sit in front of the TV and eat it. (Tuesday nights was “Dukes of Hazard” and Saturday nights was “Hee Haw”)
My next to last year in school Di Di got really sick. My mom quit her job to take care of him. My mom, little brother and I moved in with him. We couldn’t go to South Pontotoc (which is the district he lived in) because my mom still had her house in town. (I was turning 17 that year and my little brother was turning 13.) So, I would have to drive us to school every day. One Saturday we were down there cleaning his house. My Aunt Shirley was there also to help. Di Di fussed at momma and Aunt Shirley, because he said they were playing around getting the house done to keep from sitting down and talking with him. He told them to let his little whirlwind do it! He told them that they could either sit and talk with him or leave. LOL!
I was working full time at Pizza Inn on top of school to help momma pay the bills. I would get home about 11 PM during the week and 1 AM on Fridays. (We would go to our house on Saturday and Sundays and let someone else give us a break) When I would get off work I would tell momma to go to bed, that I had Di Di. He would sleep in the living room in a special recliner because he couldn’t sleep in a regular bed and he didn’t want a hospital bed. I would sleep in the recliner next to him. Most of time when I got home he would talk to me as if I was his wife that had passed away 11-12 years before. (At night I was her and during the day, I was his whirlwind) (Her name was Katie Sue-Lou, he called her Sue-Lou and we called her Mi Mi) (Both I’s long) He would sit there and talk to me like his kids were still small. (It was really neat to hear how things went when my mom was little)
Sometimes Di Di would get really bad about 4 AM and we would think this was his last, and then he would get better. Because of this I would be late going to school. The school was really mean to me about this!! They would say, well, get up earlier. Like we could help it! I couldn’t stay in after school suspension because I worked, so I would have to take 10 licks every Thursday. It really would make me mad until one day my Aunt Shirley told me just to think of who I was taking the licks for. So, I sucked it up and took it.
When Di Di passed away the school had the nerve to tell me because of my tardiness I couldn’t go to his funeral. The day I came back to school from my Di Di’s funeral, I threw my excuse and hit the principle in the head with it. I said in a real loud and angry tone, “I HOPE LIKE HELL YOU ARE HAPPY, MY GRANDDAD IS DEAD!” I didn’t even wait for my blue slip! They called my momma and she told them “The truth hurts don’t it?!?”
He was 81 when he passed away and I miss him really bad at times. He was a very good man and someone I looked up very much!
One other thing that sticks out in my head before he died was he always called Monday, Blue Monday. (Except for the Saturday before he died.) He said, “I’m going home Monday.” And he did.
Di Di (both i’s long) was a very impatient person. Even thou it seemed to bother our mom, us kids thought it was very funny! I can remember back when I was nine (and even older) he would drive up to our house (we lived in town) when he would run out of his favorite chewing tobacco, he would wake me up and tell me he needed me to go to the store for him. I would say, Di Di I need to brush my hair, he would tell me that I was fine and I would just crawl in the car and go. (He always called me his little whirl wind) He owned his own country store, but when he ran out of his favorite kind, he wouldn’t take from the box he sold out of the store. He didn’t want to run out what he had for his customers before his next truck would run.
We would go down Di Di’s once a week and when we got there he would tell us to get what candy we wanted for the day and we couldn’t come back for more. I would always get a Chocolate Soldier, a fudge cycle, 3 pieces of gum. I would also go back to his slicer and cut me 2 pieces of ham and 2 pieces of cheese. I would hear him tell some of the guys that sit at the store all day that my mom’s kids never got too much and he could not let the other grand kids do that because they would go over board. Plus, they all live right there close and he said that they got more/had more than us. It never bothered me; in my eyes it just meant we were special! (We were to him and him to us!) (My mom was raising 4 kids by herself, so he was there like a dad in so many ways.)
Di Di would come to our house every Tuesday night and Saturday night to eat supper. He would always bring us a Hershey’s candy bar and after supper we would put it in the oven and melt it, then go sit in front of the TV and eat it. (Tuesday nights was “Dukes of Hazard” and Saturday nights was “Hee Haw”)
My next to last year in school Di Di got really sick. My mom quit her job to take care of him. My mom, little brother and I moved in with him. We couldn’t go to South Pontotoc (which is the district he lived in) because my mom still had her house in town. (I was turning 17 that year and my little brother was turning 13.) So, I would have to drive us to school every day. One Saturday we were down there cleaning his house. My Aunt Shirley was there also to help. Di Di fussed at momma and Aunt Shirley, because he said they were playing around getting the house done to keep from sitting down and talking with him. He told them to let his little whirlwind do it! He told them that they could either sit and talk with him or leave. LOL!
I was working full time at Pizza Inn on top of school to help momma pay the bills. I would get home about 11 PM during the week and 1 AM on Fridays. (We would go to our house on Saturday and Sundays and let someone else give us a break) When I would get off work I would tell momma to go to bed, that I had Di Di. He would sleep in the living room in a special recliner because he couldn’t sleep in a regular bed and he didn’t want a hospital bed. I would sleep in the recliner next to him. Most of time when I got home he would talk to me as if I was his wife that had passed away 11-12 years before. (At night I was her and during the day, I was his whirlwind) (Her name was Katie Sue-Lou, he called her Sue-Lou and we called her Mi Mi) (Both I’s long) He would sit there and talk to me like his kids were still small. (It was really neat to hear how things went when my mom was little)
Sometimes Di Di would get really bad about 4 AM and we would think this was his last, and then he would get better. Because of this I would be late going to school. The school was really mean to me about this!! They would say, well, get up earlier. Like we could help it! I couldn’t stay in after school suspension because I worked, so I would have to take 10 licks every Thursday. It really would make me mad until one day my Aunt Shirley told me just to think of who I was taking the licks for. So, I sucked it up and took it.
When Di Di passed away the school had the nerve to tell me because of my tardiness I couldn’t go to his funeral. The day I came back to school from my Di Di’s funeral, I threw my excuse and hit the principle in the head with it. I said in a real loud and angry tone, “I HOPE LIKE HELL YOU ARE HAPPY, MY GRANDDAD IS DEAD!” I didn’t even wait for my blue slip! They called my momma and she told them “The truth hurts don’t it?!?”
He was 81 when he passed away and I miss him really bad at times. He was a very good man and someone I looked up very much!
One other thing that sticks out in my head before he died was he always called Monday, Blue Monday. (Except for the Saturday before he died.) He said, “I’m going home Monday.” And he did.
6 comments:
What a great story. It is amazing how it came to be that the school/gove, owns the children and there seemingly was no parental rights. My mom would pull us from school for shopping and if the school wanted to know why we were absent my mom would say "They were with me". Sometimes they pushed for a reason and my mom said "They are my children I don't need to give a reason for them to be with me". Is it any wonder I am a home school parent.
Wow Kitten, that was beautiful, he sounds like an amazing man, and you were a cool kid.
I love the picture of you giving them hell, although I'm sure it was painful. He sounds like a wonderful man.
He sounds like a real character. How wonderful to have so many memories of such an amazing man.
And yeah. School sucks. Stupid jerks.
I'd like to see you sit down and write a longer story about him - and your youth.
You could post it in installments.
In fact -- I would love to help you proofread it.
I think it would make a wonderful story for one of those books (such as chicken soup!)
wow, i can really relate to this, i mean not that this happened to me, as you read we didnt see our grandparents much, but its funny, i guess i can relate to YOU per se, if someone offered me something, i would only take a little bit or nothing at all. i knew hard times and was grateful for everything i managed to get my hands on. its funny how this things can transcend time and place, even situation and still come round to the same conclusion.
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