Mincey’s Musings
Year Two, Week Seventeen

A group of Baptists met at Cheddar’s on Clinton Highway yesterday for lunch after the morning church service. Two different people in the group ordered onion rings as appetizers, and they were exceptionally delicious.

Onion rings always remind me of my mother. Once when I was about five years old she home fried some onion rings. I ate so many of them that I got sick. Mother fussed at me and told me my eyes were bigger than my belly. It was a long time before I ever wanted onion rings again, but Mother fried some a few days later. Since I would not partake, she ate all she had fried and became ill. I remember, though I was only five, the great satisfaction it gave me to repeat her word to her, “Your eyes was [sic] bigger than your belly.”

My mother had many similar sayings. She often said of those who refused sound advice about a matter, such as a purchase or marriage, “If they get their butt burnt they’ll have to sit on the blister” or “if they can’t listen, they’ll have to feel”.

Another of Mother’s favorite sayings was, “If you make your bed, you have to lay [sic] in it.” Sometimes this doesn’t work out as planned. One time my sister Anna Mae had been to Detroit and returned with a man. Mother thought they had married and put them both in the same bed for the night. Neither bothered to inform Mother of her error, but Anna Mae thought it was as funny as Mother thought it was scandalous!

On another occasion, both my Aunt Lidia (Dad’s aunt) and my grandfather (Mother’s dad) were spending the night at our house. Papaw was already in the bed, and Aunt Lidia took off her glasses and turned out the light, then accidentally proceeded to get into bed with Papaw. It did not take Aunt Lidia very long to figure out and correct her mistake!

My mother was a very sensible woman, and her advice was always sound. She was a lot like Jed Clampett—her level of formal education might not have been high, but she was blessed with an uncommon amount of common sense. I remember one time in particular when I was in a car accident. I was clearly not at fault, as the accident was witnessed by a highway trooper. I was moved with compassion as the man who caused the accident had his pregnant wife in the car. I agreed to meet with him privately to see if we could “work something out”. Mother told me not to sign anything, but the guy gave me such a convincing story that I signed the documents he had which relieved him of all liability for the accident. He promised to pay me for the damage to my car, but of course that didn’t happen.

My mother loved to say “I told you so,” and she sure had her opportunity here. Experience is a difficult teacher whose lessons are rarely forgotten, especially if your mother is constantly reminding you, “I told you so.” Though she has been gone fifteen years this year, as you can tell she reminded me so much before her departure that I am now telling you that she told me so!

And Mother had a wonderful memory—she forgot nothing. With hurt still evident on her face and in her voice, she would tell how her sister Marie would “stick her ol’ foot out” when they were younger and would come to a certain railroad track. Mother would fall (you would think she would have been on the lookout after a few times) and get cinders in her knees. Every time she would tell that story in front of Marie, Marie would laugh like it was the first time Mother had told the tale.

Mother also took joy in telling of the times that others had not heeded her wise advice. Once she and her “baby sister” Mary Lillian (otherwise known as “Boots”) came upon what appeared to be a dead hedgehog. Boots decided she would pick up the hedgehog, and Mother told her that it was only playing dead, that it “would eat her alive” if she bothered it. Boots picked up the hedgehog, and it did “eat her up”. Boots tried to put it down, but couldn’t quite extricate herself from the vicious varmint.

On another occasion, Boots decided that she would throw rocks at a hornet’s nest. Mother again told her not to do it, but Boots didn’t listen. The enraged hornets swarmed upon Boots and “covered her up,” but didn’t bother those with her. Obviously Boots was not allergic!

Next week, I will discuss listening and being listened to, but for now I leave you with a thought from the King James Version Bible:

Proverbs 12:15
“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.” 

Mincey’s Musings
Year Two, Week Eighteen

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In one of my favorite episodes of Bonanza, Hoss Cartwright is in jail, having been arrested for stealing a horse of a murdered man suspected to have had lots of money. The townspeople keep asking Hoss what he did with the money. With increasing frustration, he tells them he knows nothing about any money. In one scene, the preacher asks Hoss if he can help him in any way. Hoss tells the preacher he can tell him why no one is listening to him. The preacher tells Hoss that if he wants people to listen to him he has to tell them what they want to hear. Hoss replies that he told them the truth, to which the preacher replies, “That’s the last thing most people want to hear.”