My Tribute to Mom and Dad Part 2

There's nothing like a reptile!!

One day I had rescued an escaped iguana. He

appeared to be lethargic. He didn't even move

that much when I held him under his front

legs and tail. We put water over him and it

seemed to bring him back to life! None of

the neighbors knew who he belonged to.

Dad welded what he thought was an escape

proof cage. The next morning he was gone

(to mom's great joy!) For all I know, she

went out in the night and let him go!

Nah, in the process she would have been

too afraid he would come after her!

Monster Garage and Backyard Wars is the

only thing to which I can compare our

backyard in the Keys. It was a montage of

scrap metal, angle iron, welding rods,

oxygen bottles, just to mention a few

things. Mom gladly initiated me to another

helper position. Whenever dad needed an

extra pair of hands mom would conveniently

push me out the back door to assist him

and whatever task he had taken on. He

seemed to never have enough clamps to

finish the job. One day when heading back

inside from a welding experience, I by-passed

the charcoal grill. "Why not?" I thought. I

was already greasy and dirty. I splattered

some of the coal dust onto my sweaty arms,

not realizing the fine dust had also stuck to

my face. Upon entering the house, I let out

an enormous yell not realizing mom was

right around the corner! I can only describe

the massive shriek that followed was louder

than my yell! So loud, within a few micro-

seconds, dad was in the back door! All I

will say is that's the first and last practical

joke I'd ever pull on mom...or dad for that

matter! On some of these kinds of occasions,

mom would make the comment, "You're just

like your father!" It was like dejavue when

dad repeated at other times, "You're just like

your mother!" I never had that question kids

ask about adoption.

(Dad filing some metal he had welded earlier)

*

Waterspouts, hurricanes, tornadoes! The

weather is something that none of us can

always get away from. While living in the

Florida Keys, I had seen some ferocious

waterspouts. One in particular was about

a mile wide out in the Gulf of Mexico. From

the funnel's powerful entrance into the water,

you could see the outward spray shooting above

the height of the tallest trees on the island

before it and almost as wide as the island! Another

waterspout in particular, occurred one day while

we were out in the boat. The sky had really turned

dark all around us. The wind had picked up, making

the water so choppy, it was hard to travel at any

great speed in the boat. Then a mile or so behind

us a funnel went down into the water. The rain

came down in sheets. The lightening crackled

across the sky as the thunder boomed in close

proximity. The wind literally blew up a gale. The

homemade canvas top on the boat collapsed,

tangling me up inside of it. I let out a cry of

anguish thinking surely the waterspout had

gotten us! All I could hear was the laughter

of mom, dad, and my brother. (I didn't think it

was so funny!) Helping me out of the twisted

mess, my first glimpse was mom with that

beautiful smile, reaching out to me with one

hand while the other held her straw hat to her

head (even though it was tied under her chin.)

It's amazing how calming a mother's smile is to a

frightened child. (The picture below is one from

a better day out in the boat.)

Hurricanes

*

We returned to the lower Florida Keys just after

hurricane Donna had pretty much devastated them.

Everything was in shambles including mom after

seeing all of the damage. The closer to Key West we

got, the more destruction we saw. If it had been

left up to mom, we would have turned around and

lived anywhere else but the Florida Keys. One of the

five hurricanes we went through was hurricane

Betsy. It was packing 125 mile an hour winds

with gusts up to 155. A couple of years earlier,

dad had jack hammered into the cap rock and

cemented the tie downs to our trailer. Upon the

hurricane's approach, we couldn't leave. Our dog,

Skeeter was in the middle of having her puppies.

She had already lost one to still birth. By

the time her last pup was born, the blunt of

the storm was upon us. The electricity had

already gone off due to blown transformers.

I sat on the couch lying up against mom.

Skeeter lay at our feet nursing her babies.

The rain beat upon the roof like the sound

of hundreds of hammers. The wailing and

howling of the wind was just as deafening.

I watched as the walls of the trailer bowed

out and then back in. Even in the mist of the

storm I remember we all were comforted by

an inner peace that can only come from God!

Then came the silence.......total silence! It

was just as deafening as the previous noise

we had been listening to from the storm that

seemed as though it would never end.

The eye of the storm had come over us. In a

split second mom gathered Skeeter's pups

and we headed out the door behind dad up

the street to a vacant rental house they took

care of. Upon leaving, we witnessed the shredded

tree debris, bits and pieces of wood, plastic,

insulation, broken glass, aluminum siding,

and paper trash. But most of all, the eerie sight

of the Gulf waters began surging up the street.

The backside of the hurricane was quickly

approaching. I remember the return of the

wailing wind and rain; this time more violent

than before. But the memory I carry most of

all is being in the loving arms of a caring mom

and the strong leadership of a loving father

in care for his family. If they had any fear, I

didn't feel or see it in them; only a strong

sense of survival instinct led by the Hand of

our Almighty God.

Tornadoes

*

In past history, there had never been

a tornado recorded in the Keys.

Never say never!

In the summer of 1972, a tornado, not a

waterspout coming onto shore, but a real

tornado struck the Key we lived on. I was

away at college. When I heard what had

happened, I was allowed to go home from

the summer program. As I approached the

turn-off, I was required to show ID of my

residence. I couldn't believe the destruction.

I couldn't identify anything except the Methodist

church on the corner of our street. A narrow

drive through had been cleared for entrances

and exits. When I reached where I lived, to

my surprise, the trailer was still intact. The

added aluminum room had disappeared and

a new trailer from the park behind us, lay upon

the back of ours (it had not yet been tied down.)

Only the floor of it was left. The four tires lay

at our back door. The debris was so thick in the

back yard, you couldn't see the ground. I

think this is the first time I had seen mom

distraught. She lost an enormous and rare

bottle collection that took her years to collect.

The mess looked like it would take months of

clean up to clear it all away. Earthly possessions,

even though she had few, didn't seem to care to

her anymore. So goes the storms of life.
*

More to come