If you know me, then you know that I’m not a fisherman. I struggle with being quiet, sitting still, and not falling into the creek. As for my husband and daughter, they not only love to fish, but they are also very good at it.
That being said, I have occasionally heard them fuss and get frustrated when they were trying to reel in a rather large fish. Unfortunately, some of the fish would fight and manage to get off the hook. That’s when they usually say: “You ought to have seen the one that got away.”
By the way, that phrase isn’t used just for fishing. It refers to anything we had within our grasp, but we let it slip away from us. Recently, my mom and I had a huge revelation on this concept. It started a couple of months ago when one of our cousins came over after church for lunch.
He and mom began to tell old family stories. There was one where my mom was still a young girl and her baby brother was very small. They were riding in the back of a pickup truck with an older cousin. Mamaw Jo was driving them to where Papaw was baling hay off Norris Freeway.
They were going downhill where Pedigo Road runs into the freeway. That’s when the brakes went out on the truck. Our older cousin realized what was happening and grabbed my mom and her brother and held them down. There was a car coming down the freeway. It saw them and stopped as the old truck flew across the road. That is literal.
When the truck hit the bottom, it bounced up into the air. We asked mom if she was scared when that happened. She laughed and answered: “Heck no. I thought it was fun. I especially liked it when we the truck went airborne.”
That’s when we began to realize just how many stories we had heard from our family and how many we didn’t remember. While I was growing up—I know it was the same with mom—family members would often tell stories from their youth or what had happened before they came along.
For instance, I remember my great grandmother Mamaw Girdle/Myrtle talking about how her grandmother had it rough because the soldiers would steal their food. As a little kid, I didn’t get it. But then I grew older and learned about the Civil War.
Mamaw Mrytle was born in 1896, so the time would have been right for her grandmother to experience that war. Now that I think about it, what else did she know from that time that I didn’t ask about?
By now, a lot of our family has passed on and their stories went with them. Not realizing the treasures, they tried to give to us, we let them get away. So, mom and I decided to remedy that.
Recently, she had several of our cousins come to her house for a little reunion and to swap old stories. Since I love stories the way I do, I was very excited. And thanks to modern technology, I could keep the first-hand telling of these stories. Yep, I charged up my iPad and recorded my cousins telling them. You know, as I listened, I felt like I was in a time machine. To me it was an awesome and blessed experience.
“All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.” Matthew 13:34-35 (KJV)
Don’t ever underestimate the importance or the power of stories. Remember, Jesus used them to teach in His ministry. We can all do the same today in that we can share the stories of our lives in order to help teach about Jesus. Did you ever stop to think that maybe that’s the reason he gives us the experiences we have?
So, how about it? Do any of you have any stories to share with others? I would love to not only hear them, but I may even use them in an article as well. I would love to hear from you.
Please contact me at: brooke.cox@historicunioncounty.com.
Brooke Cox is an author, speaker, and storyteller. She was a 2016 Selah Awards Finalist for Debut Novel. Her children’s book: “Dinosaur Eggs,” is now available. It is based on Ephesians 6: The Armor of God. Her novel “Until the Moon Rises: A Conniving Cousin Mystery” is also available. Also, she has two books out in her storytelling series, “Saucy Southern Stories.” The Amazon links for her books may be found on her website: brookecoxstories.com. Please feel free to contact her. She would love to hear from you.