Prompts/Parents/Memories

My Dad Didn’t Go to High School

August Daily Prompt #5 If you could go back in time, which of your parents would you like to meet in high school?

Today’s prompt is from my good friend, Nancy Oglesby. She asks, “If you could go back in time, which of your parents would you like to meet in high school?”

The answer to this prompt would not be an easy one to accomplish, even if I could somehow find Mr. Peabody’s Wayback Machine because neither of my parents attended high school. Apparently, growing up in the 1930’s and 1940’s in the South in extremely poor families wasn’t conducive to higher education. Many children living in their area left school early to help their families earn a living. They never returned to school.

Adding to the stress of dad’s young life, my grandfather, dad’s dad, died when he was only sixteen years old, leaving he and his two brothers to provide for the family. It was no easy life. Dad learned early the truth of the old saying, “life is not fair.” And dad was the baby of the family. But his short childhood ended the day his dad died.

By the time dad was high school age he was already working full time, doing farm work and working at a sawmill doing manual labor. Later in life, he attributed his bad back to the many hours he put in as a young man handling lumber and lifting logs to prepare them for sawing. How easy I’ve had it compared to him. They worked long days, then went home to do more chores around the house.

But I would love to have known my dad at that age. What was he like? Did he worry about having to leave school or was he indifferent to school anyway by that time. Who did he look up to? What were his friends like?

Even with the long hours working, he and his brothers grew up playing bluegrass music and were quite well known in the area. Dad was known as one of the best mandolin players in the region, and my Uncle Ed was a gifted blue grass fiddler. The oldest brother, Lloyd, played rhythm guitar and upright Bass.

Ed was even able to rig up a radio transmitter and they had their own local radio station to transmit their music to their fans. I would love to have been there to see that!

By the time I was about 6 years old, in the early 1960’s, dad was teaching me a few chords on the guitar. But by then, he had suffered a stroke that took away vision in his right eye and limited his ability to play the mandolin, so I never got to hear him play when he was in his prime. I can just imagine being able to play rhythm guitar with their little family band as dad made the mandolin talk, tapping his toe to the rhythm.

Dad always talked about the pranks he and his brothers played on each other growing up. Though they all worked hard, they played just as hard and had fun whenever they could. But it’s hard to imagine having so much responsibility at such a young age. Basically, your mother depending on your ability to earn money to contribute to daily necessities. How did they do it?

It was a world without air conditioning, electronic devices or most of the other conveniences we now enjoy and take for granted. But it would be wonderful to be able to get a peek into dad’s early years — the music, the hardships, the stresses he had to bear. And what was it that made him the kind, gentle man who was always present in my childhood? The man whose friends filled a church to overflowing at his passing at the age of just 56. The man I still admire so much today.

I would certainly like the chance to find out.

August Daily Prompts:

the Challenged August Daily Prompts | by NancyO | the Challenged | Jul, 2023 | Medium

Here’s a wonderful group of writers taking on the challenges of life as they share their Journey Through June in writing. If you wish to be deleted from this list, just let me know and your wish will be granted. Just that one wish, though. I’m no genie.

Autistic Widower (“AJ”), Pamela Oglesby, The Sturg, Bernie Pullen, Rhonda Carter, Harry Hogg, Paula Shablo, Jerry Dwyer, NancyO, Bruce Coulter, Adrienne Beaumont, Pluto Wolnosci, Keeley Schroder, Normal Earthling, Brett Jenae Tomlin, Katie Michaelson, Pat Romito LaPointe, Michael Rhodes, Karen Schwartz, Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles, Ray Day, Ruby Noir, Susie Winfield, Rachella Angel Page, Lisa Guard, Lu Skerdoo, C.A. Jaymes, Busy Mama, Lynn L. Alexander