The Wise Woman With the Country Scarf

 

 The Wise Woman with the Country Scarf  Paula Day Johns Feb 18 2003

Read at Thelma Vickers Johns’ Funeral 2003

When you looked into her soft brown eyes, there was a knowing look that brought surprise.

She was not a woman that held contemporary matters worth a cent, she was from a different era but knew what life really meant.

In her younger days it was work that gave meaning to her life, tilling the soil, milking the cow, away from global problems of trouble and strife.

It was a narrow world for her, this woman of the field, nothing was more important than Enoch and cooking him a meal.

Bah! she would say to glitter and glitz, and no one could orchestrate a more passionate fit!

When her fit was on, we would all back away! She could carry on and leave us nothing to say.

But when the fit was over and she had settled down, she’d say “you want some eggs before you go back to town?”

Many a morning when the dew was still on the ground, she would harvest her strawberries and beam at what she had found.

Then off to the barn to milk her dear cow, making cream for our oatmeal that would produce a wow!

Although you never saw makeup and rouge upon her face, she knew about feminine things like crocheting that looked like lace.

She made Afghans, tablecloths, and quilts for us all, egg pies and pistachio cakes that seemed ever so tall!

She never drove a car, or sailed on a boat, but why waste your time when you can barbecue a goat!

She wore her clothes ‘til they were thin and bare, everyone knew she was frugal with plenty to share.

Her success meant that her freezers were full, the city life was just a lot of bull.

She rode through the streets of our big city and said, “I’m sorry for these people, I look upon them with pity”.

Because she knew they seldom saw the sunrise over the pond or knew the smell of fresh-cut hay of which she was so fond.

In her later years, her priorities began to shift, now it was great-grandchildren that gave her a lift.

First, there was Mitch, then Blake and Tayler; along came Matt, Zachary and later,

Our only little girl Olivia Renee, my what a beauty! What could we say!

To finish the tribe was boys three more, Trey, Caleb, and Benjamin, we had boys galore!

What great-grandmother, ailing and frail, would travel to the city so her great-grand could be held?

Her task being done she lay down to rest, knowing her life had been one of the best!

 

Addendum May 3, 2022, Paula Day Johns

She has been gone since 2003, but I would like to share more on the family tree with her!

There is Jackson Clyde, Carter Mason, Emmett James with Beckham Clay on the way; more boys with whom you did not get to play.

I will keep you updated because the family grows, how many more God only knows.

We miss Granny Thelma, Papa Enoch, and Papa Clyde too. But we will all meet together soon in the faraway blue.