Given her uncertain emotional states, I am so happy when Mama is happy to see me and not saddened by my leaving. This week she was very excited to see me and in such a good place it was quite easy to keep her in that good place and was able to stay in a positive/happy place when I said I needed to leave. Can’t ask more from God than this! For surely it is in His Blessing that these gifts are delivered. To assume anything other, would be a denial of His Evidence in my life!
This week she, as well as those cribbing on our visit, show great interest and amusement from that time Dad threw Barb and me out of the john boat into a snake infested tank …
Barb and I could not have been more than 7-8 years old when this event took place, as evidenced by the fact Dad was still able to pick us up! 😉
It was either Dad and Granddaddy, or Dad and Chalk. I suspect Granddaddy. Anyway, for some reason, perhaps throwing us out of the boat was the reason, Dad and Granddaddy took Barb and me onto the tank in the john boat. Keeping in my mind that this is the same tank where Barb and me had, and were, learning how to handle and shoot the .22 rifle and 4-10 shotgun, shooting turtles and snakes! (A yet untold story will recount the role these guns played in our lives as boys and young men. Watch for it!) Well, there we were, out in the middle of the tank, when Dad tells us strip and jump in the tank! It was not always easy to tell when Dad was kidding around, but it was quite easy to tell when he wasn’t. So, in fairly short order we were naked! Jumping out of a john boat is more complicated than it may sound, an so one, or both, of us ended up being thrown from the boat!
Now I must tell you, my recollection is that we already knew how to swim, so the point of all this must have been simple amusement for the two adult men in the boat. At least by age they were adults. By their actions, their childishness was exposed!
Once in the water I was terrified by the depth, and temperature, of the water. While I have no idea how deep the tank actually is, I can tell you , form experience, that the water temperature 5-6 feet down is surprisingly colder than at the surface! This may be why I retain a fear of deep water to this day! I was at once scared and fascinated.
As with so many childhood memories, I don’t remember the ending of this story. Perhaps the beginning was sufficiently traumatizing that it blanked out the rest! 😉
So goes the life of Dolores’ boy … Wint.
Love
Wint
Martha Dolores Winston Pylant 