Boozer Blog

It was 1933, and life was very hard. Ruby, 11 yrs old, was very, very sick that morning. All the other kids were up ready to start the day and Grandma was cooking breakfast while she and Grandpa discussed how to get Ruby to the hospital. The closest one was in Memphis, about 30 miles away and living on a houseboat with no car or other means of transportation meant it wasn’t going to be easy. Everything had been lost in the flood of 1927 including the boat that Grandpa supported his family with, by transporting people, crops and livestock up and down the Mississippi. With four other little ones at home and one on the way, Grandma couldn’t take her. So Grandpa got ready to start the long trip and walked out the door carrying Ruby in his arms. Grandma cried, not wanting to let go but she hugged her and kissed her fevered brow, telling her that she loved her and that her daddy was taking her to the hospital where they would take care of her. Ruby cried. She wanted Grandma to go but they...

My Daddy…. Growing up, we didn’t get to spend a lot of me- time with our daddy. It seemed like he was always working, at his job and then at home. He’d come home from work and we’d work in the garden, or mow the yard and he spent a lot of time teaching us how to do things that we needed to know to grow up to be responsible adults. But there were lots of good times. I remember a cold snowy day, when he took me and Bobby rabbit hunting. Just me and Bobby. And I remember the time and patience he had, teaching us how to drive. I remember coming home from school and telling daddy about my day and I remember his thirst for learning as I explained something new I had learned that day. I remember each Christmas Eve night, and how he loved for all of us kids to sing Christmas songs around the tree. And Christmases were always awesome. Mama always made sure of that. I remember one Saturday night where daddy and I stayed up late and watched Marilyn Monroe in “The River of No Return” and it has a...

I wonder what Luella thought when Ben told her they were moving to Arkansas. I wonder if she was excited about seeking new horizons and moving to a new place and a new life and a new adventure. She would get to meet more of Bens family and life would be whatever they made it. She would have none of her family looking disapprovingly over her shoulder telling her what Ben should and shouldn’t do. And pointing out everything about her new husband that they didn’t approve of, mainly that he was uneducated. Or maybe she was terrified at walking away from everything that her life promised to be? She was leaving the only family she knew and trading her dreams for Bens. Was she scared of what lay ahead? She gave up her little home of comfort to go to what? No promise of a home. No expectations, just dreams.  I wonder if she had a choice and if she could have said, “No Ben, we are staying here”. Or did she feel resigned to make the best that she could of the situation because she would have...

Where my story begins....... The setting sun meant it would be dark soon and six year old Luella wanted her mama. She could be a brat on occasion and Della mouthed a silent prayer that this wasn’t one of those times. She wanted mama too, but she choked back her tears and tried to help Luella change into her nightgown and brush her hair. One hundred strokes just as mama would do. Both girls had dark chestnut colored hair just like daddys’ and it hung halfway down their back in curls. Every night Luella would sit in the floor at mamas’ feet while she brushed her hair until every tangle was gone and it was shiny and glossy, then mama would braid the long tresses and wrap it around her head before putting the nightcap on.  Della didn’t have mamas’ magic touch though and Luella wasn’t making this very easy. She whined and squealed as Della brushed the tangles from each strand.  “I want mama to brush my hair,” she whined as she tried to squirm away from Della’s reach. Della understo...

Ellen didn’t know anyone that was poorer than her family where most days it was a struggle to find food to put on the table. And her lifestyle was very different from Bobbys, even down to the food they ate. She had mostly been raised on vegetables and an occasional chicken or maybe some fish when her grandma caught some. Bobby on the other hand didn’t count it as a meal if there weren’t several kinds of meat on the table. Between him and others in his family, they were always  shooting or trapping rabbits, squirrels or some kind of wild animal. Ellen was learning to prepare and eat food she would never had thought she would eat. If they weren’t hunting, they were fishing or frog gigging. They had turtle, or frog legs, or coon, or all. Bobbys mom had to teach her how to cook, especially these different meats, but she taught her a lot more than that. Mostly she taught her how to be strong. She encouraged her in everything that she did and they quickly grew to love each other. Ellen t...

While at work today, I called Daddy to tell him about some tires that Jamie had gotten for him. He finally answered, but I could tell I had interrupted something. I asked him what he was doing and he said, “I’m out on the river putting my nets out.” My heart sank, because we all have been so nervous for him to get back out on the river, in his boat. “Who is with you?” I asked. “No one”, he said, “ I don’t need anyone. But I wont do it again. I cant deal with all this at once, chickens and cats and sticks, it’s a mess…...” I didn’t really understand what he meant, so I hurriedly told him about the tires and got off the phone because the images of him, in a boat, in the fast running river, putting out his nets, fighting chickens or whatever, all while talking to me on the phone, scared me to death. Just a few minutes later, I called mama while driving home from work. ‘So daddys out fishing, huh?” “How did you know?”, she asked. So I told her about our conversation and she was concerned ...