Papa and I shared many, many memorable occasions. I often find myself recalling these special moments over and over, expecially when the weather is cold, cloudy or rainy.

Somehow, Papa could tell when it was going to rain and not merely “cloud up and roll around us”. There was sort of a personal instinct with him when it came to the weather. Papa never told me exactly how he could forecast the weather and I was smart enough not to question his talent. By the way, our forecasters in Missouri are not nearly as accurate as Papa.

papa taught me to be at ease with thunderstorms and lightning. I can recall many instances when I would turn to run inside where it was safe and Papa would stop me with a reassuring hand in the chest, never interrupting his singing of the song at that moment which usually was An Uncloudy Day.

Papa was my source of warmth on cold nights when the room temperature dipped below freezing and water in the very room wehere we slept actually froze. He would always rool over and give up his warm space to me. Many times, however, Mac would beat me to the spot.

In addition to the many weather-related memories of Papa, I have fond recollections of him always having time to talk to a young fella’ who had serioud questions about life, such as, “on which side of a cow do you milk her?” or “where did the water in the well come from?” Papa’s answers were always firm and convincing and left not doubt in my mind that he knew what he was saying. For those of you who don’t know, Papa said, “a cow expects to be milked from the right side.”

Papa and I spent time together doing odd jobs around the house. We could fix almost anything that broke. We even added a room to the back of the house without benefit of blue print or power tools. I recall that Papa hit his hand only one time. I managed, somehow, to hurt something everyday. Papa and I were quite a team.

Perhaps, my most treasured memory of Papa is a selfish one. You see, Papa was the only adult in Due West other than Momma and Daddy who had a license to whip me at any given moment but, lucky for me, Papa never elected to do so.

PAPA is truly many special memories to me.