Category Archives: Small Town America

TRAINING WHEELS AND ROADBLOCKS

Christian Discipleship, Humor, Small Town America, Spiritual Growth, , , , , , ,

It has taken me fifty plus years to see it, although it was obvious to my childhood friends and family.  I never saw it in myself, but it’s true.  I was a bonafide, scaredy-cat kid.  I was overly cautious, super careful, and hesitant to take risks– at least about things that might cause bodily injury and pain.

I wasn’t hesitant to open my mouth, that’s for sure.  And I never had stage fright.  But when it came to the prospect of bodily peril, I was out.  Saying no was no problem when there was even the smell of a hazard.  It was more than just the regular childhood fears– like fearing the dark, fearing shots, fearing the dentist, etc.  Mine were fears that became major hinderances.  My fears probably kept me out of trouble in some respects, but placed unnecessary roadblocks into my life as a whole.  It was a miserable place to be, and I didn’t even recognize it.  For instance……

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AMBULANCE CHASERS

History, Humor, Small Town America, ,

When the term “Ambulance Chaser” is used, it is normally in reference to injury lawyers who make their living off of filing lawsuits on behalf of those who have suffered loss– usually damage at the hands of well-insured businesses and corporations.  They often show up at disaster sites or after tragic events, hoping to get new clients to file lawsuits.  Most people don’t like the smell of lawsuits that look like personal revenge– until THEY become injured or wronged.  Then the tables are turned.  It’s a tough call, for sure.

But growing up in the small Alabama town of Ashland, the idea of  “ambulance chasing” had nothing to do with the legal profession, or with “revenge.”  It was exactly what it sounds like– chasing ambulances.   Continue reading AMBULANCE CHASERS →

THE LADY OF THE LAKE

Humor, Small Town America, , , ,

My mother, Marylyn Sims, never learned to swim.  For some reason she had a fear of deep water, although none of us know where it came from.  Sadly, she passed that fear down to me somewhere in my childhood.  Until I was about nine years old,  I buckled myself into ski belts and life jackets every time I went swimming. (The inflatable arm swimmies hadn’t been invented yet.)  I wasn’t afraid of the pool, or of water in general; I just wouldn’t swim.  I played in the creek beside my home almost every day of my life, but the water was shallow.  When my brother or a friend would hassle me about not being able to swim, I just responded with, “So what?  Mom can’t swim either.”  I had made up my mind that swimming wasn’t for me.  And that’s the way it was until the Lady of the Lake changed everything.

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T’WAS THE MONTH AFTER CHRISTMAS

Christian Discipleship, Humor, Small Town America

Christmas always arrives with a bang (gifts, sweets, cheer, and holiday prayers) and then quickly leaves us suffering from symptoms of straight-up withdrawal!  And with children, it’s even more pronounced.  “Every day should be like Christmas,” a little tyke imagines, leading to his demands of even more presents and more sugar– or else!  Chaos inevitably erupts in the house and kid naughty summarily takes out kid nice in the first round.  By New Year’s Day, parents are fed-up, broke, and ready for a break from the spoiled sugar addicts.

“Out with the old and in with the new” is the New Year’s motto.  However, for youngsters, the “new” doesn’t mean “new toys” and “new treats.”  Instead, January comes down like Thor’s hammer on the ungrateful young urchins.  School reconvenes and reality sets in.

It was in January, the month after Christmas,  that I had the first of many “great awakenings” about how things really are.   Continue reading T’WAS THE MONTH AFTER CHRISTMAS →

MY FIFTH CHRISTMAS

Christian Discipleship, History, Humor, Small Town America, , , , , ,

treeAny Christmas is magical for a child, but there may be none so magical as a child’s fifth Christmas.  At five-years old it suddenly dawns upon a little kid that Christmas is something really special.  What other time of the year is it OK  to actually bring a tree into the house and decorate it with colorful lights?  And at what other time does a grown-up look at a kid and say, “Make a list of all the toys you want?”  It’s like the total OPPOSITE of the rest of the year– when asking to buy a toy normally results in a firm “NO, we can’t afford that!” and where candy is frowned upon as bad for your teeth.  At Christmastime, kids attend parades where happy adults actually THROW CANDY AT THEM, and where it’s OK to scream and yell at the top of your lungs.  Nobody says “shhhhhh!”

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