CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Father's Day was always a special occasion in our family. The celebration began with my maternal grandfather, Abner Jehu Samples, also known as "Grandpa Hooge." He was the father of 11 children (all deceased now), and they all married and had large families. We were blessed with scores of cousins who really loved one another.
Our Father's Day reunion was held at the Samples family cemetery, which was situated on a high point above Big Laurel Creek. It was a quiet, tranquil place, shaded by tall trees and carpeted with soft green moss. It was not morbid at all, but a peaceful place with the grave of a long-dead grandmother and some baby graves.
Before Grandpa Hooge passed away, he asked the family to continue to meet there and keep the family ties. Some of my best childhood memories are centered around our Father's Day reunion with our multitude of relatives.
As far back as I can remember, we made the pilgrimage to honor the graves of our ancestors, and to renew the family ties.
Mom made preparations the day before with cooking and baking, plus the butchering of a couple of fat frying chickens. Each aunt made her special dish, and we were overloaded with good things to eat. I remember Aunt Ruby's molasses-applesauce cake, the mounds of potato salad, half-runner green beans and an array of delicious pies. There were always gallons of iced tea and lemonade, and such a variety of good food that it was impossible to sample it all.
We had to park out Twistabout Road, near the Parks Cemetery, and walk down the winding path to our graveyard. We carried our picnic hampers and baskets of food, plus jugs of tea and lemonade, through the woods. The rhododendron and mountain laurel were always in bloom at this time, with the delicate wild roses in bloom along the path. The footpath wound through ferns and over rocks, with tall hemlocks making a cushion of dry needles underfoot.
How happy we were to greet our cousins! Cousins enjoy a special relationship - there is no sibling rivalry as there sometimes are between brothers and sisters, yet the relationship is deep and binding. Springing from a common stock, many of us inherit the same traits and mannerisms, as well as a marked resemblance in looks. The relationship goes beyond mere friendship, and this bond can last beyond childhood, beyond adulthood, and beyond time and distance.
After we were stuffed to the gills with good food and socializing, we would have to lie down on the soft moss and rest awhile before our mothers would let us go in swimming. The cool, clear waters of Big Laurel were waiting for us. It was an exuberant bunch of youngsters who went tumbling down the hillside, headed for the swimming hole. There was no thrill like jumping into the clear, sparkling water after the hot, sweaty trip down the hill.
The water honeysuckle, with its haunting, indescribable fragrance, would be leaning its white flowers over the water, which ran clear and clean then. We would jump from a rock into its refreshing coolness, splashing and laughing as we romped and played. Just one more time, I'd like to be a kid again, floating in the Rock Hole, with gravel underfoot and water honeysuckle blooming along the edge.
Father's Day also bring memories of my own father. Although he has been gone 36 years this July, his face is as vivid in my mind as though it were yesterday. All of my childhood memories are centered on Daddy, as he was the most important man in my life. I will never hear the poignant call of a whippoorwill without seeing Daddy's smiling face - how he loved that piercing cry!
I still miss him. I think of how important a father is to a child; how we came running to him with all of our minor hurts and woes. Later, when the more serious problems of adulthood came, he was there with wise advice and warm, loving support. A good earthly father lays the groundwork for a deep relationship with our heavenly Father. Just as we learn early to run to Daddy with our troubles, we learn that our Father in heaven is always ready to listen, guide, console and strengthen. He has promised He will never leave us or forsake us. When my heavenly Father took my earthly father on home, I could only be thankful. But, I miss him!
I wish all young fathers could only grasp the awesome responsibility that comes with fatherhood. I am sure they would be more careful in choosing the pathway that their feet take. It has been said that a father's most important role is to teach his son what it is to be a man, and to give his daughter the foundation for future relationships with men. The most important relationship in a man's life is first with his father. May God help our men to be the right kind of a father.
"Walk a Little Slower. Daddy"
Author Unknown
"Walk a little slower, Daddy,"
Said a child so small.
"I'm following in your footsteps
And I don't want to fall."
***
"Sometimes your steps are very fast,
Sometimes they're hard to see;
So walk a little slower, Daddy,
For you are leading me."
***
"Someday when I'm all grown up,
You're what I want to be;
Then I will have a little child
Who'll want to follow me."
***
"And I would want to lead just right,
And know that I was true;
So walk a little slower, Daddy,
For I must follow you."
***
Happy Father's Day to all you dads - May you feel the awesome responsibility that rests on your shoulders as you raise your children in today's world. Our children are growing up in a vastly different world than we did as children. They are faced with pressures that we never dreamed of, and surrounded by a much different atmosphere. They are more advanced in knowledge, sophisticated in culture, and mature for their years. They are growing up in a world where crime and violence are rampant, corruption in government is common-place, and wickedness abounds in high places.
What can we, as parents and grandparents, do? We pray. In this changing world, the only unchanging thing is the solid rock, Jesus Christ. We pray for our children to find that anchor early in their lives; the anchor that holds us steady when the world is in turmoil.
Contact Alyce Faye Bragg at alycefaye@citlink.net or write to 2556 Ovapa Road, Ovapa, WV 25164.