Samuel Waller 10/49 | GlitznGrits.com

Aug 23, 2015

Samuel Waller 10/49



                                                              Photographed in Greenville, Mississippi

Let this be the tenth installment of "I am the South and the South is me: Southern portraits." Portrait ten: A man I call my favorite person.."
"My fingers fumble as the phone rings in my ear. I casually wonder what he's eaten today. Has he eaten? What will I talk about other than Cowboys. He answers, his accent thick and slow. Slow as molasses. As sweet at the Magnolias in Mississippi he grew up with. I cut him off before he can begin. "Happay Birfday Paw Paw, I yell!" I imagine him to wince as he thanks me. He never did quite understand my enthusiastic nature. A familiar sound strains the back of my ears. I pause before askin' him what he was doin'. "Listentin' to I am Redeemed the hymn", he responds. "We sang that at church this mornin", I pipe back. For someone never much amused unless the Cowboys are on his little ol' TV, I swear I can hear the light and smile in his voice. " I did't do much today but leave the house for church", he rambles on. The church I know to be the light of his day. Little bitty church, big ol' steeple I think. The same church he was baptized in. The same church my distant cousin pastors in.  The conversation haults... he wants to know if I've put his birthday in the internet yet. "Not, yet Paw Paw. Not yet I reply." He stops me many times in the span of minutes. I never was quite good at lettin' him get a word in I think. He wants to know if I saw the pictures of Momma's childhood home that recently burned down. 
The conversation halts. Now is my chance I think to myself. "Paw Paw, I begin." Where you alive durin' WW2?" I catch him off guard. "Yes, But I was little don't remember much. '35 I was born. Daddy didn't have to enlist. He raised us 9 kids and was a farmer. He got a waiver." I strain to listen. His accent thicker than usual. "Leon my older brother, he was in the Korean Conflict." I chuckle. Did anyone still call it the Korean Conflict? 
I pause, a bittersweet feelin' rushes over me. My whole life I'd wanted to know Paw Paw's age- his life. I'd call him every birfday and he'd say, "I'm Sixteen today." He was private like that. Never shared much. He'd finally told me what I wanted to know. In not so many words. My smiled faded. Always wonderin' was half the fun.
I imagine I'm a child again. As the days of, " no no no I love you more. No you hang up first. HOW BOUT THEM COWBOYS flood my soul.  
And so the A man I call my favorite person clears his throat as if to silently acknowledge we'd reach this point, as I pass the phone.
 I am Samuel 'Baby Boy' Waller
 I am the South and the South is me. 
Happy 80'th Birfday Paw Paw.  

5 comments

  1. So beautiful!!!! Reading this made me think of my own Grandfather & those sweet moments I have with him.This is such a beautiful tribute to your Paw Paw...Happy 80th Birthday! :)

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  2. Beautiful! Definitely bought back memories of my grandmother. Happy 80th Birthday!

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  3. This brings make memories of my grandfather and the many conversations we had sitting his front yard in rural NC, watching cars past by. One of my biggest regrets is that I didn't take more pictures of him! I only have a few of us together before he passed away several years ago.

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  4. This is so sweet! So incredibly heartfelt. My Daddy was born and grew up in Egypt, Mississippi about 30 miles south of Tupelo. He was born in 1934, if he were alive he'd be 81. Your Paw Paw is a gem!

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  5. Loved this, Aleshea! Thanks for sharing on #TrafficJamWeekend. I chose it as a feature for the new linkup that's live now.

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