Reflections

I remember 1981. I was in the 8th grade at South Davie Junior High. I had my first “job” early that year working for a local beef and hay farmer. I remember picking up bales of hay that weighed just a little less than I did. A close friend of my father let me ride his horse back and forth to the farm to feed the cattle. I crossed over probably three different property owners to get to my destination. Back then, graciousness was common with neighbors as it relates to trespassing. I remember getting a pair of cowboy boots for Christmas. The heels were probably two inches tall, but they made me feel a foot taller. I also purchased and wore a large western belt buckle that had a bull rider in the center of what could be called a silver billboard. The farmer trusted me at that age to run a John Deere 1020, I believe a 1970-year model. It gave me a lot of responsibility. With the cows that I fed, the horse that I rode, the1020, and my boots and buckle, I thought in my mind I was truly a cowb...

  “If I’d known what it was like to be a grandfather, I’d a had them first.” I’ve heard that phrase for many years.   In time for the 2021 tax deduction, Braxton Gray Burton entered the life of his mother and father and made me a grandfather. Excited…happy…. elated…. I’d probably have to study The New Oxford Dictionary of English, first edition with 350,000 entries to find the adjective to express the emotions that came with that day. Holding Braxton for the first time created an immediate emotional bond that I will keep tucked in my heart for the balance of my journey. Looking into his eyes, seeing his little hands spread wide to stretch his fingers, touching his perfect skin, I pondered the many places he would go, the ballgames he would enter, the fish he may catch, the life that he would carve. I watched his mom and dad fall right into being loving parents nurturing his physical and emotional needs. The experience took my back to 1992 when Braxton’s mother was born. We had...