Emerging Courageous Online Magazine

6 yrs ago, my Daddy bought this house...the one I live in today....It is 5 houses up from the one I lived in then...When he told me, he'd bought it, I came down to see it...looked kinda plain on the outside...just "normal"...but ...Oh My STARS!...when I walked in... my jaw nearly hit the floor....FIRST thing, I was hit with, was the RED dining room...I thought.....uh!...bordello RED.... THEN, as I walked futher...there was this HUGE great room, all done in a dark teal, with peach colored, wainscoating, and trim, everywhere.....BEAUTIFUL !...but that red dining room....well....HUH-UH !......anyway, I went straight to Daddy, and asked him..."what in ne' worrl made you buy at house?....didn't you SEE that RED dining Room?"....He said...."whut red dining room?"......I got it cause it's BIG, and has zat BIG ole backyard...Got a good garden spot, dirt's good, and it has blueberry bushes... at'll brang ne bluebirds"....OOOhhhh K....(there's a man's perspective, for you) Well...one of the first things he did, when he moved in, was to plant a bluebird house....He REFUSED to let me paint tat RED dining room, by the way.....We sat for day's that first spring and summer, waitin' for the bluebirds....Never saw the first one...NO blueberry's zat year, either....

The second spring found my Daddy in the hospital, from a staph infection, from which he never recovered....He went to his "eternal" home, on May 2nd, 1999....One of the first things, I did, when I moved in his house, was to put the tin-covered porch on the back, like he had planned to do, that year....My Mom's brother...my Uncle C.T. built it for me...We christened it "Homer's Porch" and wrote that in the cement, before it dried....I also wrote...FALLON BUILT-3/2000... as it turned out, it was the last thing my Uncle, ever built...He passed, on April 1st that year....I 'magine him and Daddy are havin' a fine ole time, right now, too...I have sat on that porch, in the swing my uncle built, so many times, since , and felt my Daddy and my Uncle with me....That spring the blueberrie's came in, in abundance...and have ever since, and last year, the bluebirds came....but they didn't nest in the bluebird house....They have their nest right up there in the rafters of "Homer's Porch"....I sit in ne' swing, ever mornin', have my coffee, and watch em fly up, not 3 feet, from me, feed their babie's, and chirp "Good Mornin'" to me...they are not the least bit scared of me....I smile, and say "Thank You, Lord...and, tell Daddy and Uncle C.T. I said, "Thank You", too...and that I love 'em, and I'll see 'em in a litl' while....and, Oh....please tell Daddy, his dining room is still RED, too.....for now....

Sandy Smith [email protected]

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