She Don’t Misremember Nothin’

I got a letter today from my number one fan, Granny Gladys Adcox, from out Highland’s way. She’s closing in hard on a hundred years of age and I Suwannee, she is a ball of fire. Hardly a week passes without the mailman bringing a letter of encouragement from Granny and usually one of her stories from a past issue of the Baytown Sun.

Granny is my balcony person. She’s my faithful audience and she always cheers. I like it too.

As I fumble-stumble-bumble through life, insulting and alienating people, left and right, it seems, I occasionally do right and applaud someone instead of irritating them. I know to do right and still more times than not - don’t. It’s a discipline I am simply not good at, but Granny is. She knows how to do it and it ain’t fake or false. She means it and the very fact that a 93 year old lady will take the time and expense to sit down and write a letter to rubber puck for brains guy like me, makes me reflect on how poorly I have developed in the social arena.

By the way, I like the name Gladys. It’s an old-school name and my Mom’s oldest sister was named Gladys. My Aunt Gladys took me to see a movie called “Tom Thumb” when I was a youngun and I still remember she bought me a bag of hot roasted cashews (a real treat then and now). I have fond memories of her to this day.

Now, Granny tells me she remembers being born. She does appear to have a remarkable memory and although remembering something that early on is remarkable, I myself have a few remarkable memories, so I can’t say hers is false, in fact I’m going to go ahead and just believe her…why not?

I had a repressed memory suddenly jump into my consciousness about 15 years ago. Some folks don’t believe in repressed memories, but I can attest they are real and you never know when one might decide to surface. Here is mine.

It was the early 60’s and I was attending school in Roy, Utah. My Dad was a job-shopper and he tendered his resume often and we moved often. This caused me and my family to relocate constantly and I guess that’s why when given the choice, I put down deep roots in Baytown, but that’s another story. I was sitting in the cafeteria and it was noisy and full of children. For some reason I can’t remember, I threw a slice of cheese at a kid behind me.

It sailed past two tables, missing everyone and went down to the floor. I was amazed that no one saw me throw it and that it missed everyone. It flew like a Frisbee. Abruptly, a teacher stepped on it and fell and broke her hip, leg, or something horrible. No one saw me throw the cheese and it’s not like I meant to hurt anyone, but in my mind I had committed a terrible crime. For all I know she recovered with just a bruise.

I never told a soul, not my friends, my 3 brothers, whom I shared everything with…no one. I buried and suppressed the memory. I buried it so deep I didn’t have a memory of it and maybe 30 years passed before my brain decided the coast was clear enough to let it out and when it came out, it was like watching it on television. I sat and heard, smelled and saw it all clearly and boy was I shocked.

Anyway, when Granny tells me she can remember being born; I have a good reason to believe her. Our mind is a wonderful recording tool. Granny also sent me her personalized magnet to put on my refrigerator, which I did and wrote that her grandkids tell her she loves to self-promote. I do too; Granny and I’ll tell you why. Ben Franklin did. That’s why and look where he went and what he did, besides I’ve found out through experience that some folks misunderstand my intentions and get offended if I use them as examples, so I just use myself and it ends up being a self-promotion of sorts.

If there is one thing Granny has taught me it is to cheer people on, instead of finding fault. Anyone can find fault with just about anything, from the way the city and school board are ran, to what laws are enforced, but it takes a special person to point out the good in a person or a city official and Granny has this figured out. Granny is a true balcony person with a long generous memory and we need more folks like her.