Waldron Wisdom

It seems more and more that people are just losing all self control and inhibitions.

Don't get me wrong, I am a firm believer that everyone should have the right to be who they want to be... but sometimes, I'm just a little bit like "well why would you want to be like that?"

I must admit that I have been accused in the past of being a bit uppity and even snobbish. I don't actually MEAN to be... but there are just some things and people that I just can't abide.

I attribute it all to my Waldron Roots and the rules both spoken and non that we all lived by there.

For instance...

Never go anywhere that you'd be ashamed to be found dead. Think about that for a minute. It's all well and good when your friend says "it's going to be great! Strippers everywhere... all the booze you can drink...". That might sound intriguing until you start thinking in headlines. "Waldron Boy Dies in Booze Drenched Stripper Melee". That's not the kind of thing people would overlook at the funeral.... in fact, it might lead to a pretty small potluck prepared by southern church women.

Another great piece of advice comes from my "Nanny". "You might as well laugh as cry". That is so true. No matter what happened in Nanny's life, she looked at the bright side and chose to laugh. She'd always say " it could be worse... I could be twins".

My Great Grandma, Granny Tinder, dealt with upsetting news in another way... If you gave her bad news, she'd say "Well, cat fur makes a pair of kitten britches". I have no idea what that means... but as I'd sit there trying to figure it out... it took my mind off the bad news at hand.

I love that I grew up around so many colorful characters. I don't guess any of them had more than a 7th or 8th grade education... things were different then. But the wisdom these people possessed far exceeds anything that can be taught in college.

Nanny could cook anything... no really, I mean anything. I remember one time Chuck, Donishia and I were sitting in Nanny & Papaws living room after dinner when we noticed Nanny was sitting at the table banging on something.

"What are you doing?" Donishia asked. ""I'm trying to break this squirrel skull to get the brain out." Nanny replied. Us kids were mortified! I think I may have actually nearly thrown up. In My mind, she was trying to eat "Rocky the Flying Squirrel's" brain! After that, I didn't eat too many meat items at her home unless I saw her pull it out of a package.

My grandpa Abb was probably just as bad... the only thing that was different is that at Abb and Alberta's, my cousin Sandy was there to "agg" me on.

Because Sandy dared me and said I wouldn't... I have eaten Venison, Snake and a soup that is best described as the mop water from a slaughterhouse all warmed up. I think it was actually called Son of a Bitch stew, but Alberta made Abb change the name to Son of a Gun stew for religious reasons.

Through all the crazy stories and even crazy meals... I was lucky to have had such a close relationship with both sets of grandparents.

They were survivors... Wars, the Depression... Heck, Alberta even survived Malaria when she was a child.

Their enduring spirit and refusal to give up was the best life lesson I could have ever learned.