Happy birthday Pepaw...May 3, 1915 - May 8, 1992

I have so many happy memories of my Memaw and Pepaw. I couldn't begin to describe how important they were to me and my sister as we grew up. They loved us. We were their only two grandchildren, and they spoiled us absolutely rotten. I remember Pepaw and his chicken farm, and how we used to love to see the biddies right after they hatched. And how he would let us play with them, and how he loved to sing in church. His favorite song was Higher Ground...and we sang it at his funeral. Pepaw was the first family member of mine that I loved to pass away. I remember his heart attack from a few months earlier, and the doctor saying that he wouldn't survive another one. I remember that the day before he died, our parents went to visit him and memaw...but as teenagers who thought that life lasted forever, my sister and I chose not to join them. I will regret that to my dying day. I remember my daddy waking me up that Sunday morning, telling me Pepaw was gone; his daddy was gone. That was the day that I grew up. Memaw coming to the house saying, "John just went to get gas...he'll be back any minute now." That's when I realized my Memaw, my love, was also changed forever. Life changed for us that day, but the memories from before, the love, the happiness, those memories will remain forever. There was a song that was popular at the time...called "Love, Me," by Collin Raye. It reminded me so much of my grandparents, and as we drove from the church to the cemetery to bury Pepaw, it played on the radio. I want to share those lyrics, and think about the love that was shared for many decades between my Memaw and my Pepaw. Happy birthday, Pepaw...hope to see you again one day...you have reached that "Higher Ground" that we all hope to reach one day. I love you.

I read a note my Grandma wrote back in 1923
Grandpa kept it in his coat, and he showed it once to me
He said, "Boy, you might not understand, but a long, long time ago,
Grandma's daddy didn't like me none, but I loved your Grandma so.

We had this crazy plan to meet and run away together
Get married in the first town we came to and live forever
But nailed to the tree where we were supposed to meet instead
I found this letter, and this is what it said :

"If you get there before I do
Don't give up on me
I'll meet you when my chores are through
I don't know how long I'll be

But I'm not gonna let you down
Darling wait and see
And between now and then
Til I see you again

I'll be loving you
Love, Me."

I read those words just hours before my Grandma passed away
In the doorway of the church where me and Grandpa stopped to pray
I know I've never seen him cry in all my fifteen years
But as he said these words to her, his eyes fill up with tears

"If you get there before I do
Don't give up on me
I'll meet you when my chores are through
I don't know how long I'll be

But I'm not gonna let you down
Darling wait and see
And between now and then
Til I see you again

I'll be loving you
Love, Me

Pepaw (John Henry Hurst) has two great-grandchildren who bear his name...Braxton John Harrell and Henry Oliver Bonham. He will forever be remembered by both of his granddaughters, and his name will live on through their 0ffspring. Braxton was named after both his great-grandfather and his grandfather, John Ronald Hurst. Livi and I were both pregnant at the same time in 2007. If Henry or Welles had've been a girl, their name would have been Lillian, after our Memaw. When Livi gave birth to Henry, I was so excited...because at the time, I didn't know Welles' sex. I was hoping I would get to use Lillian, but no such luck. Hopefully, through our stories, one of these kids will choose to use that name for one of their own children...such a beautiful name for such a beautiful woman.