A Season of Sorrow

I have been intending to write this post for some time now.  I want to capture for our collective memories the events and emotions of the past year for all of us here in Fernnook.

It was just about a year ago that we began to be worried about Uncle Jim.  He wasn't right.  He wasn't himself.  But, we were not sure what was going on with him or what to do about it.  As winter melted into spring, he became more and more erratic in his behavior and less and less stable in his ability to walk.  We began to take him meals, to get involved in getting him to his doctors, and to check on him multiple times a day.  

Then Aunt Jenny fell and broke her wrist.  That entailed a middle of the night trip to the ER for my cousins, an operation, and a hospital stay that was very traumatic for her and for her family.

So, the family was stretched...some caring for Jim and some for Jenny.  A couple of days after Jenny was released from the hospital, I saw an ambulance going down the gravel around midnight.  Cousin Sandy was staying with Stacy at Jenny's home helping to care for her.  I was sure the ambulance was for Jim, and called Cousin Kenny.  It wasn't.  He told me that it wasn't for Jim, it was for Jenny, and it didn't look good.  I was so grateful that Sandy was with Stacy when her mother died.

The next morning we decided that things had gone too far with Jim and we took him to the ER.  We were pretty sure he had lung cancer, but didn't know what was affecting his thinking and walking so severely.  Well we found out.  The lung cancer had spread to his brain and he had a tumor.  He was in a hospital in St. Louis recovering from brain surgery while we were at Jenny's funeral.

We fought so hard to get him treatment in time.  We all fought so hard for him.  But it was not in God's providence.  Two weeks of severe nosebleeds, two nose surgeries, and a stroke caused by one of the surgeries put off treatment for too long.  

We all came to the end of the summer tired, sad, and numb.  

For me personally, and for Kent, this was on top of a previous year which had us facing the deaths of Kent's father, Opa, and three very close church friends.  So, emotionally, when Jim died, it seemed our cup of sorrow was full to the brim.

In December, though, a series of events began that made us all feel like we were punching bags.  First, Andrew (our grandson who has CF) was hospitalized.  We were thankful to the Lord that what looked like a possible two week stay was cut down to four days, and he did get to be home for his family to celebrate Christmas a few days after the holiday itself.

Then, we were all heartbroken when Hattie, who was 12 weeks pregnant, miscarried two days before Christmas.  She and Ethan grieved deeply, as did we, over their loss.

Two days after Christmas, Uncle Ken (visiting his daughter Kelly in Houston) had a heart attack while he and Kenny were traveling home to Fernnook.  It happened in Tyler, TX, and he spent the next 38 days in the hospital in Tyler.  He responded well to a pace maker, but developed pneumonia, a UTI, a prostate infection, esophagitis, and ended up with a PEG feeding tube.  He was unable to swallow and lost the strength in his legs, and so was unable to walk.

Meanwhile, back in Fernnook, Papa (my dad) got a partially blocked lower intestine and was hospitalized for a week.  Then he also developed pneumonia.

One night, a few weeks later, Cousin Stacy called me at 3 am to see if I could come get her daughter Lizzie, because her other daughter, Emily, was unconscious after having a seizure.  Emily had seizures from bleeding on the brain 5 years ago, but she has been doing really well for several years.  That entailed a trip to the ER and a transfer up to Barnes.  Thankfully, there was no new bleeding and they believe it was a UTI that caused the episode with her.

Then I got a call from my Uncle David's caretaker.  She told me that they were putting David on hospice.  I have only seen him a few times in my life, but he is a dear, gentle soul, and this has been very sad for me.

Meanwhile, my brother Mike had a blood vessel growing toward his pupil that was affecting his eyesight and if left untreated could cause him to lose his sight in that eye.  So, he had a painful eye operation.

All this happened while Ken was still in the hospital in TX.  Just a week and a half ago, Ken took a rough ambulance ride to Van Buren to a rehab place there, but was immediately transferred to a different ambulance and taken to the hospital in Poplar Bluff.  They kept him for a week to get his heart rate back under control, then moved him to a rehab facility in the Bluff.  That was a disaster, and Kenny pulled him out yesterday and brought him home.

He is beginning to eat again, and, we pray, will be able to regain strength in his legs soon.  

If we have seemed distant or distracted or difficult to be with, forgive us.  We don't doubt the Lord's care for us, but it has been a long, rough season of sorrow for all of us here in Fernnook.

Letter from Grandpa Marion to Grandma Opal ( shared with me from Uncle Jim)

 

(From Jim to me on May 3, 2018)  Following is a letter Marion wrote to Opal in Oct 1929. It is not the complete letter but only three pages of it.  Opal would have just turned 19 and Marion was 24.  He was writing from Flint Michigan.  You must remember Marion only had a fifth grade education if that much so I made a few corrections to spelling and grammar.  From the way the letter was going Opal may have censored the last page and made sure it did not get saved.  Pure speculation on my part. We can thank Ty for locating this. He was the finder of the treasure.

Here it is:

Oct. 28th 1929

Miss Opal Simon,

My dearest loving little girl, I will write you a few lines tonight. How are you and what are you doing to pass the time off?  I wonder if you are thinking of your old lonesome boy tonight and wishing you could be with him to cheer him up.  Baby, life sure seems dull sometimes, if I didn’t have you to think about I don’t know what I would do but I know we will be together sometimes and so it makes me glad about it.  Because I can have you for always, Baby girl, isn’t that nice for us to be together for always and for me to love you for all time.  It just seems so good honey I can hardly stand to wait for I want you so bad.  Oh! Opal darling I know we will always be happy together.  For I could be happy with you anywhere on earth and I know you would always love me and we wouldn’t be jealous at one another because we wouldn’t do anything to be jealous over.  Opal darling don’t you ever doubt me for I will always be true to you, because I know I love you and I don’t want other women.  I would rather kiss you than any girl I’ve ever known and Opal darling I know just how you are.  I know it would be lots nicer if I had lots of money and I could give you anything you wanted.  But Baby girl I haven’t got it. I can only give you my love but sweetheart I can work for you and we can get by.  Opal sweetheart as much as I love you I would give you up if you could marry some man with lots of money and you could be happy with him.  But it sure would be a pain for me to have to give you up.

Skunk Summer Wedding Part 4

Unbelievable!  (First a suggestion...you really should read the previous
three posts before tackling this one.)

...but really, it is unbelievable!

Tonight, Aunt Jenny popped over to peruse the Mayberry Times Newpaper
to see who had been arrested and for what reason.  We chatted a bit, and
when she was ready to leave, I grabbed a flashlight to help her down the
steps.  Our outside light never works, so we have given up on trying to
make it do so.

We stepped out to the porch, and dog-gone it, I could tell that SOMETHING
had been on the porch because Debut's water dish had been sloshed and the
food dish was empty.  I forgot AGAIN to bring it in before dark.

Then when we got to the edge of the porch, we could see who the culprit was.
Just as I suspected, it was a skunk.  But not just one.  It was a whole writhing
mass of skunks.  Maybe 68 or 69.  It looked like that many, but was probably
6 or 7 in reality.  There was one big one and scads of little ones all moving
around.  I could not believe it.  I JUST COULD NOT.

We have been invaded.  Absolutely invaded.  Now what are we going to do?
In Baby Blues (the comic strip) the mom called a realtor and listed her house
because there was a snake in the garage.

I am contemplating a move to Canada or Thailand or somewhere...anywhere...
that skunks do not live.

True Confession:  I love mushrooming, but in all the years I have done
so, I have never, until today, found a morel.

Thank you to Tyler for organizing a morel hunting trip in his morel sweet
spot!  The kids loved it too, but I must admit, I think they loved playing
in the nearby creek even more.

Here is Peter with two of the delicious morsels.

And, here is Adeline with the catch of the day.  Now to clean and cook
them.

It reminds me of a story G'ma Opal once told me.  She had gone down
Over the Hill to the creek to fish.  While she was climbing back up the
hill with her stringer of fish, she tripped and fell flat on the ground.  As
she lay there for a second, she glanced in front of her and she had
landed right by a group of morels.  She was thrilled!  She collected those
babies and took them home to eat with her fish.

Today was a delicious, warm, windy, sunshiny, woodsy, morely day!

From Uncle Jimmy:

FERNNOOK NEWS July 23, 2018

Volume 1, Issue 1

News not found elsewhere

This was told to me by my mother and is her best recollection of the events of July 22nd and 23rd of 1930.

Following is some information that helps put into perspective the situation at that time.

Art and Iva Crow were neighbors who lived about a mile from the old Simon home place.
Art was 37 and Iva was 21 that year. Iva had her own baby Mildred who was less than three years old.

John and Hattie Simon had been married 48 years and were 76 and 56 years old respectively.
Opal’s brother Paul was 27 and John was 21 and Opal's sister
Hazel children were living with John and Hattie. Gilbert was 6 and Helen was 4
John J. Simon would have less than two years left to live in July 1930 and Hattie would live for 18 and 1/2 more years.

A story as told to Jimmy L. Fleetwood by Opal Fleetwood in 2002

How Bob lost his Petey but found a name.

It was a very hot and dry summer that year, the corn had twisted and withered in the field.
Art Crow, a neighbor, had been sent for to help cut and shock the corn so there would be some fodder for the animals. The day before, July 22nd had been a hot and hazy day. Paul and John Simon had been in the hay fields along with Marion Fleetwood their brother-in-law. They were preparing to put hay into the barn.
Inside the house, Opal was getting ready to give birth to her first child. Opal’s Mother, Hattie was there to comfort her daughter as she experienced the pangs of childbirth. As the day wore on and evening came, Opal’s brother Paul was sent to Doniphan to fetch Dr. Carter Proctor. Paul and the doctor got back just as it was getting dark. The old Model T truck rattled and sputtered its way down the dirt road that stopped in front of the house. The doctor went into the bedroom where Opal was waiting. He examined her quickly and then gave her two capsules from his bag.
He then made his way out onto the porch where a bed had been prepared for him and tried to get some rest. The drugs soon took effect on Opal and she went to sleep. As the night wore on, the doctor sleeping on the porch and Opal dozing fitfully in her bed, the time was quickly approaching for the baby to come. Opal awakened with a start at 2 A.M. She knew the time was close. The pain was intense, sweeping in waves over her body. Hattie roused the doctor from his sleep. Opal fought with the doctor as he applied chloroform. She fought to stay awake. She hated the smell and the way it made her feel but the drug won the battle and when she awakened there was a new baby boy in the world. He was born about 8 A.M. that 23rd day of July 1930. He had big blue eyes and lots of dark brown hair. When Opal awoke her new son’s hair had already been combed maybe by Iva Crow or his Grandma Hattie.
He was a healthy baby boy about 8 lbs 4 ounces and 19 inches long. Paul Marion Fleetwood that’s what he was named. He was named for his Uncle Paul Simon and for his father Marion. It was his Aunt Jewel who gave him the name that we know him by today. She called him “Petey Bob”. Somewhere along the way, the “Petey” was dropped and he became known simply as Bob. His father Marion once explained to a merchant in Naylor when she inquired about his name, “We just cut off the Petey and called him Bob”. As he grew older and someone would call him Paul, he would say “No! Bobby!!
Grandma Hattie went into the garden and gathered vegetables to make a pot of homemade soup to help Opal feel better. The aroma of the soup simmering on the wood stove was soothing to everyone. Opal ate the soup with great satisfaction. In fact, vegetable soup had never tasted so good. The new mother and baby rested from the ordeal of birth.
It was Wednesday, July 23rd, 1930. There was a new life in Jordan Township, Ripley County Missouri.

I want to wish that baby a Very Happy 88th Birthday.
Happy Birthday, Bobby!!!