Thankful is something that has been woven into the fabric of my life. Due to a caring father, being thankful was instilled via his actions to my brothers, sister and me. As I age, it seems more evident that being thankful has defined me, as the person that I am today. I think back to the stories that my Dad told me, which makes it so.
As a boy, he would go to local dump and retrieve milk bottles, which he took home and washed in the horse trough. He then would deliver them to the “cow man” for refill. He received the grand sum of 2 cents for every bottle. He said if he was “good at it,” he would made 20 cents. He was thankful for the 20 cents. Another of his ventures was going to the same dump, to retrieve an old bicycle that was “sorely need of repairs.” As a matter of fact, the 20 cents earned from the milk bottles bought him some new tubes and grease for that old bicycle. He was thankful for his reconditioned bicycle, which he could ride to the dump to retrieve those milk bottles.
He told me that he loved his mom who went out of her way to help. Especially when he made the basketball team. The school supplied a “well worn” jersey and a pair of shorts that were two sizes too big. After receiving said uniform, he asked her if she would be able to get him a “support” to wear under his proudly received uniform. Of course, she would see what she could do, but being short on cash would dictate how she would obtain a “support” for him to wear.
Being creative, Grandma Belle sat down at her old Singer and made him a “support.” Again, he was thankful that she came through and presented him a “support” made from an old flannel shirt. He was thankful that his uncle gave him an old “beat up” French horn so he could be a part of the Fall River High School band. He was thankful for his “swayback mare” Roxy. (Mother wanted to name my sister Roxanne, which was soon scrapped after he told her about his horse Roxy.) There were many times he told me how thankful that he was about life in general. And if you knew him, you would see a man who was blessed by the simple things in life.
By his stories and his action, I learned that being thankful comes from the inside. It comes from your story and how it affects us in our travels through life. (However, I must admit that being thankful for a “flannel support” is something that I’d have to think long and hard about.) Nonetheless, I have great love for this man, born in 1913, who lived and taught about the real meaning of being thankful.
Sign me thankful,
Barry Dene Kinyon
Marysville
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