Enoch

“He wakes early to tend the cows.

The colors of the sunrise bounce off of his head and it is the only time his hair is anything but pure white.

The wear of life is starting to settle in his shoulders but the twinkle in his eye remains.

He meanders through the fields, taking in the vastness of his herd.

As he walks,

He talks with God.

Thanking him for the bright lights of the stage,

for the rumble of the tour bus,

And for a fiddle and a guitar with strings anointed from heaven.

He makes his way to the barn, the chores must be finished because everyone will be over soon. The sun was now seated high in the clouds, the cows and horses have been fed.

His work nearly finished.

One day he would get to talk with God without end but, for now, breakfast was waiting.

He makes his way back to his old pickup

and as he bends down to pick up something from the grass.

He smiles and thanks God for hickory nuts

For front porches that make perfect places to shell them with granddaughters

For little kitchen tables with never enough seats to fill a blooming family

For fifty-plus years of a loving marriage

For Christmas trees in sand buckets

And for hoop cheese and sorghum syrup. “

Me with my mother, little brother, and my great grandparents Mamaw and Papaw (Enoch & Margie Sullivan). Today makes 11 years since my Papaw passed on. We miss him dearly.