Thank you for visiting my blog! If you are visiting because you have experienced a pregnancy or infant loss, let me say that I am so very sorry. I started this blog shortly after our Baby Grady was stillborn on November 12, 2008. Please visit the sidebar below called "Labels" to find the topic in which you are interested, or just read as your heart desires.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Walkin' on Wednesday



Wednesdays are always sad days for me. Hard as I try, sadness always creeps into my soul. That was the day that I found out that Grady was gone. I tend to relive every minute of Wednesdays, from morning to night.

I found a wonderful blog yesterday with this idea. I thought it would be a great way to try to turn my frown upside down.

Every Wednesday you take a walk down memory lane, hence the name "Wednesday Walk". You can write about anything. Go here to read how it all started and officially participate.

I give this wonderful woman full credit for coming up with this idea, but I've decided every Wednesday, I'll post a memory and try to start a memory book for my family as well.

I had a hard time thinking of what I was going to write, but I was talking about my dad this morning at the gym and this story popped into my head.

My dad, Barry, was a very funny man. He loved his beer, too! Sometimes a little too much. (Rolling Rock was his favorite - even named his band after it). Unfortunately, he died when I was 13 years old.

One summer night, my mom was watching the Braves (as in Atlanta), one of her favorite past-times. It was dusk, and as I walked from the breakfast room into the family room, I glanced out the back window. The following conversation took place.

Me: "Uh, Mom, is there a reason the backyard is on fire?"

Mom, very calmly, "What do you mean the back yard is on fire?"

Me: "I mean the backyard is on fire. Come look."

She moves faster than I think I've ever seen her move, sees the spectacle in the backyard and immediately calls 911.

When my parents bought that house, they had 42 pine trees removed from the backyard. The stumps had apparently gotten to be too much for my dad to cut around with the lawn mower. After having a few brewskies, he got the brilliant idea to burn those stumps. All at one time!

I was freaking out thinking the fire was going to come and burn our house down. The neighbors on both sides and behind us all had their water hoses pointed toward our yard to control the fire.

I hear the sirens coming to our house. My dad is no where to be found.

After the fires were extinguished, my dad slowly comes creeping out from behind the woodpiles in the far corner of the yard. My mom is furious. That's probably an understatement.

When my dad is questioned as to why he is hiding, he says, "I dropped the gas can when I lit one of those stumps, and I thought I was going to get blown up".

I need to add that my dad was terribly scared of snakes. Can't say that I blame him though - I'd take a snake bite over getting blown up, too!

I remember going back to school and having to write a story about something that happened over summer break. I'm sure there were other things to write about, but I chose that experience. I called it "Barry's Backyard Burnout".

That's definitely an experience that I'll never forget!

PS. Lynnette, my favorite game that I used to play with my dad, was TROUBLE. My girls and I love to play it now, too! I think they really just like popping the center button!!

Love,
Tonya

10 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing your memory! I bet your dad never lived that down!

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  2. Good for you in joining in!! :) What a memory!

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  3. Hi Tonya! Welcome to Wednesday's Walk! It's so nice to meet you. I just skimmed through your blog and then read your post for today. I plan to go back and read your story more thoroughly in a bit. It sounds like we have some difficult things in common. :(

    As far as today's post - your dad reminds me of my husband! ha! We had a little incident with a "burn pile" a few years ago. I just might have that be a memory soon! You would die laughing. Men! They are funny (and wonderful) creatures. :)

    I'm glad you all lived through "Barry's Backyard Burnout". :) But I am sorry you lost your dad at such a young age.

    I'll look forward to having you join us. I'm sure you'll love having all these memories documented to look back on through the years.

    Blessings.
    Lynnette

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  4. Craziness! Guys always have the greatest ideas, don't they? ;) Like my mom said...we had a similar experience with a burn pile in the field behind our house a few years ago. I think guys are just attracted to the execution of hazardous fires. lol.

    Thanks for sharing this story!
    In His arms,
    --Abigail

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  5. By the way, I forgot all about the game Trouble. That was also one of our favorites. I agree that one of the things that makes it so fun is the popping noise of the dice thingy. I'll have to get a hold of one of those for my kids to play. :)

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  6. Tonya,...thanks for the vivid picture you painted for me as I read your story. I am sure it is bittersweet for you to tell it.

    I'm Lynnette's mom and her story about the burn pile is funny. I hope she posts it someday too.

    Men are fearless when they shouldn't be sometimes! (:>)

    I am glad you joined us today.

    Blessings!
    Linda

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  7. Oh my goodness! I love the title you gave your paper at school! That is so funny!

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  8. What a memory! Thanks for sharing. See you next week for WW.

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  9. Tonya, I think it's amazing how you can keep him alive by sharing that story with us - he sounds like a very fun person!

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  10. Oh, yes. Some men are drawn to fire like bugs to an outside light. (I started to say as moths to a flame but decided not to under the circumstances.) Anyway, we accuse my husband of being a pyromaniac, although usually that involves fires in firepits or grills in backyards and not backyards themselves.

    Thanks for submitting the post. I enjoyed reading it.

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