I called my dad today

[MOmomof8]

When he answered I asked to speak with Mr. Bobby Stockman.  He said this is he,  I said do I have the right one, do you have a daughter over 50.  He said yes I do.  I said well it's me & I wanted to let you know that I am still alive.  He said that's good & I think I am too.  We talked for a long time today.  But then he was the only in his office so he had to put me on hold about 8 times to answer the phones.  He says his business has gotten really busy in the past couple of months.  I think it's bc a lot of people are losing their homes & having to rent a place.  My dad owns like 100 houses & manages even more.  He has been selling off his houses a couple at a time but with the market being as it is, he isn't willing to sell right now.  He told me about my aunt who fell in church Sunday & is in the hospital now with a broken jaw.  She may get to come home tomorrow.  He was full of all kinds of information today.  My cousin on my dad's side is dating my cousin on my mom's side & her daughter is married to my cousin on my dad's side.  So if Kevin & Connie marry,  Kevin will be his cousin's father-in-law.  Connie becomes her son-in-law's cousin so she would also be her daughter's cousin.  Kevin would have his stepdaughter as a cousin also.  So everyone thought that my son marrying his stepsister was odd, this is even more odd.  And I found out that is runs in the family.  I never of 2 of my cousin's on my dad's side married 2 cousins on my mom's side.  But dad said there is even more.  I have cousins that married their first cousin, or the third cousin. & I can't remember all of it.  He said our family have Arkansas roots.  My mom's family is about the same way.  There was a family named Grimes that married alot of Griffins & are so entangled that we have a Griffin Grimes family reunion.  But I know my mom's family better than my dad's, my aunt married her first cousin so her name didn't  change.  When I was little I could never figure out how she could be married & have the same last name.  Now I know.  Strange, but they lived in Arkansas.  My mom's family was in Moundsville, AL but due to some bollweevils they moved to Arkansas.  They had a hard trip cause the law held in Memphis to check their trucks or wagons for bollweevils.  But the truth is that my mom & her siblings weren't allowed to go to a white school.  My granddad built a school & hired a teacher for his kids & the other non-white kids.  When they started having problems with the townsfolk, he packed them up & moved to Arkansas.   There has always been talk about us being black but nobody believed it.  I was told that we are Indian.  My aunts & uncles look Indian & Mexican.  I have a few cousins that look black, they are real dark skinned.  The story goes that during the civil war the blacks didn't have to fight, only if they wanted to but didn't have to.   My so many greats aunt told the soldiers that they were black & he didn't go fight.  My mom was always called Johnny growing up & when she was older they started calling her Joan but said like JoAnn.  When she started beauty school she had to have her birth certificate so my aunt got into their parents trunk & found hers.  It said my mom's name was Willie C & listed her mom & dad both as black.  Now my grandmother gave birth at home back in the hills.  In those days Indians, blacks & whatever else were all under the title of non-white which was also called black.  We know the birth certificate is true but we don't know about the civil war story.    This was a big secret that the ladies of the family would talk about while making a quilt.  My mom would crawl under the quilt & listen until her mom caught her & sent her outside.  There is a lot of things about my mom's family that my aunts & uncles refused to talk about & this was one of those things as well as why they left AL.  I come from a long line of farmers both on my mom's side & my dad's side.  My mom's dad owned his land & when he died it was divided up.  Mom didn't get any of it for some reason, maybe cause she didn't live there.  My aunt's & uncle's have passed on now & my cousins are farming that land.  In fact back in the 60's, the land was called the reservation by some town folk & law officers.  I guess cause it ran a long ways on the highway & they built homes for almost everyone on the land just off the highway.   My granddad was well off but you couldn't tell it really.  But he built 7 houses along the highway.  

When my grandmother married my granddad, she was disowned by her father.  My granddad had 4 siblings which he was raising bc his parents died.  He was full blooded Indian & her father just didn't think he was good enough for her.   Her dad told her she could come visit but her husband would not be allowed in his house.  So my grandmother stayed away.  He called for her on his death bed & she did go to him then.    My grandmother was a spitfire from the stores I've heard.  She was short, 4 foot 11.   But she was dynamite.  A man was in business with my granddad & was sitting at her table doing the books to give my granddad his part.  Well, when this man started counting out the bills he folded them so he would be counting each bill twice & he would end up cheating my granddad out of half of his money.  Granddad didn't catch it but she did.  She pick up an iron skillet & told the man he would be recounting the money right or she was going to hit him up side his head with the skillet.  He did as he was told.  I think there was a time that she did actually hit someone with a skillet.   My granddad ran around on my grandmother & drank alot.  One day one of his women got the notion to go see my grandmother.  She was chopping wood so she had an axe in her hand.  When the woman approached her she told her got get off her land before something happened to her.  She ran off screaming.  My granddad's reaction to her acting like that was Oh, Sarah you shouldn't be that way.  But even he listened & obeyed her at home.  He was 6 foot 4 & he let a women 4 foot 11 boss him around.  

I bought my mom a tape  recorder to recorder these stories but she never used it.  In fact 2 got two of them that year cause she asked for one & I bought one & my stepdad bought one.  She didn't have any excuse.  I just remembered something.  My mom was working on a quilt for my oldest grandson & I don't know where it is.  I do know that she didn't finish it.  She was working on one for me too & never finished it.  I think she stated mine & Cody saw her & asked her to make him one.  So she stopped mine to make his.  I'll have to go over there & find those.  Even though they aren't finished they still hold sentimental value.  When my grandma died my aunts found a dress that she had been working on for me.  They asked if I wanted it but I said no.  Now I would love to have it.  I don't know what I was thinking. 

Sorry I kinda changed directions on this.  I was going to tell you about my dad, our talk & his family.  They have lots of interesting stories too.  Like my great-grandpa married a woman that already had a child.  The father of the child was Cole Younger, one of the guys that ran with Jesse James.  The gang was the James brothers & the Younger brothers.    She also became a preacher.    Her child's name was Marshall Younger & she is buried in East Prairie.  She was full blooded Osage Indian.  My great-grandpa was German.  Now his family is very religious & some even preach.  My dad & stepmom travel the country preaching for the Gideons.    My grandpa only went to the 3rd grade before he had to drop out to work the farm.  My grandma was irish & a saint.  She was my best friend growing up.  Still would be if she were alive. 

Being that it's Veterns Day,  I want to give my thanks to all the moms, girlfriends,wifes, daughters, & sisters for the lives of your men & women  that have & are fighting for my freedom & rights.  I know it has to be very hard to have a solder in the family.  But I just wanted  you to know that I appreciate what you & your families have to go through.  I have an uncle, 2 cousins, stepdad  & my husband that were in the Army & Navy during the Vietnim.  My family was lucky cause the all came home in one peice & still breathing.   I salute you for your strength  & support.   

lThank you to all the service men & women for protecting my freedoms, rights, & life.     You are Awesome!!!!!!!!