A new beginning (again).

After working in California and living the new life that Shelia and Bob had shown him,  my dad never re-adjusted to the low pay for hard work that was the "norm" in Alabama. Bert's experience in California had opened his eye's. In the spring of my twelfth year he left us to take a job in Clawson Michigan as a lath operator. My dad had only a fifth grade education but he was one of those people that could do about anything.

Ironically it was Shela's brother Jim that got my dad to come to Michigan. Jim because of a "bad" eye wasn't able to join the Army during world war two. He relocated to Pontiac Michigan and got a job working for General Motors. Jim got my dad a job at Brigg's in Clawson, Michigan while waiting for an opening at the General Motor's plant in Pontiac.

Bert left for Michigan like so many Southerner's before him. We were still living in the Prima Shear house. Everything pointed to a good year except for dads absence. Mom, me and Lowell along with a fiest dog named Black Boy aka BB and a cat named Geraldine. Summer was coming but mornings were sharp and cold. Mom always got up before me and Lowell and fixed our breakfast and lunches. I loved the smell of her cooking. Something about it made home complete. 

It was pretty much a given that we'd relocate if my dad found a decent paying job. The family being "split up" didn't appeal to any of us but for now our choices were pretty limited. My mom planned out the year as if it were any other.

Momma believed in raising a good garden. She had Ellis Lee to come by and plow a piece of ground for her so she could get started planting. Ellis and his family were our neighbors. They were about as good a neighbor as you could ask for.  

Ellis was a resourceful man. Besides keeping up his farm he also worked at a local coal mine. My family looked out for his family at night while Ellis was at work. There were no phones  or 911. I don't ever recall seeing a sheriff's car in our neck of the woods but then we never really had need for one. There was one exception to that statement. Love triangles!! Old affairs from when "Hubby" was off to war seemed to surface now and again. Sometimes these "affairs" resulted in some pretty drastic conclusions.
 
Now these many years later I realize that I was seeing the "Golden Age" of the working man coming about. The old south was being replaced by the new. A lot of folks fought the change even though it was hopeless.

Life was unaffected by the problems of today. My mom took Lowell and me to church and pretty much let us be kid's growing up in the rural south. Not a bad thing by any means.

Turns out that this would be my last summer in Alabama as a full time resident. Life was good. All my people including my grandparents were alive and well. 

Posted by OLD DUGGY at Sunday, September 02, 2007 8:06:00 AM
Categories: uncategorized
 

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