My PawPaw sounded EXACTLY like Justin Wilson when he spoke. I reckon he could cook almost as well as him too. Oh and he said I reckon ALL THE TIME. Practically closed every statement with the phrase. Sometimes he opened with it. There may have been times he opened and closed with it. I reckon. My PawPaw did not make it further than 7th or 8th grade. He had 10 siblings and they were dirt poor cotton farmers. If the whole family wasn't picking cotton then there was no money. School took a backseat to picking cotton and then it got out of the car all together. During the Korean War he joined the military. My PawPaw then took his G.I. Bill money and went to carpentry school. Many years later he, a brother and a cousin started a home construction business. They built lots of houses in Metairie during the housing boom of the '70's.
Flash forward to the Christmas of 1990. I have hardly told this story to anyone outside of my family because I could not come to terms with it. Not because it's sad, well depending on your definition of sad. No, I told you he died 5 years ago and this is way before that. I haven't told it because it's a little embarrassing. Now that he's gone I think it's okay. I can finally laugh about it now. It took a while.
God love him and my MawMaw but they are notorious for giving cheap gifts. Lots of years of socks and underwear. One year they even stepped it up to knee socks. Wow. I'm was in my first year of college and getting ready to turn 18. I'm convinced when they ask me what I want for Christmas that I have finally figured out how to get something I want. Not dreamed of mind you but at least I will put it to good use. The dorm rooms at LSU only had one mirror with a light above it. It was too high and set back too far back. I decided I would use and therefore ask for a makeup mirror. You know the kind that is normal mirror on one side, flip it over and it's magnifying. The kind with lights around the mirror. I knew it met there requirements for gift giving. It could be bought at Walmart and more importantly, probably for under $20.
I had finally outsmarted them. My dad usually interjects here with a buzzing noise and then says, "wrong! Game over! Try again!". I knew the box I was handed with my Christmas gift was way too big to be the gift I requested. But I thought that well they were world famous for playing practical jokes with gifts and oh how I wished this was one of those times! I was already dating the now other half by then. He says if there would have been Youtube back then that the footage of my face would have been all over it. I'm lucky this didn't send him running from all this crazy but he says it was way too entertaining.
Ok, I know, get to the gift. Wait, one final important detail, my MawMaw LOVES garage sales. You know one person's trash is probably another person who has good taste's trash too. I open the present and inside is a mirror. A mirror whose dimensions were probably 24 by 24. Around all sides of the mirror there are no lights but instead some lovely "feaux" bamboo. I'm still trying to make the best of this situation. So I swallow hard and tell my PawPaw that I wanted it to be adjustable so I could put it on my desk and sit down and put on makeup. He says to me I reckon if you turn it over you will see that it is. And, I reckon, low and behold, there was an adjustable arm on the back. Also so that the arm didn't open up too far there was, wait for 0it, A mardi gras bead for tension.
I reckon, I got what I asked for.
I did tell you my PawPaw built houses, right? They are houses that are still standing and people still live in them.
I reckon, he thought he built me a good mirror. Well PawPaw, I reckon, that at least now I look back, think of you and laugh.
I reckon, you are somewhere laughing too.
That was awesome. I have tears.
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