Another Quiet New Years Eve

We spent the evening watching TV and sharing stories.  Watched the ball come down in Times Square, listened to Dick Clark wish us all well for 2011, and were in bed by 11:30 CST.  You see there isn’t much  late night fanfare up on the mountain above Jasper, Arkansas.  Not on New year’s eve or most any other night.

As I lay there thinking about my wishes and thoughts for 2011 and beyond, I thought  about the many wishes and plans that had been considered here on previous New Years Eves.  My mother moved into this house about 1933 when she was 12 years old.  Her parents, Dewey and Velma James bought the property and moved an existing house from another location piece by piece.  They lived in the old Gum Springs school house 6-7 months while the small house was disassembled, carried  to the new location and rebuilt where it stands today almost  80 years later.  I remember Grandma saying  they were so poor that if they had lost a board during the move... there would have just been a hole in the house.   The old house has had many renovations and additions since then.  It is probably five times larger than it was in 1933. 

Can you imagine if these walls could talk.  What amazing stories of years gone by they could tell.  The life and times of Dewey and Velma James.  Oh, how the world has changed in these past eighty years.  This  house has gone from no running water or electricity to wireless telephones and satellite transmitted television broadcasts.  The house could tell of the twelve children Dewey and Velma raised and how they went from this mountain to influence the world.   Depression, Wars, births, deaths, good times, bad times, happy and sad times, wouldn’t you like to hear about them all. 

Now, that I consider all the important and valuable New Years plans and wishes that have come to fruition in this little house on the mountain  My wish for 2011 is a  little different.   What I want is for each of us to consider our history.  The things and people that worked together to make you who you are today.  After all it looks like they did a pretty good job with you Cuz.
And that's the way I heard it on the mountain,
Tony Peoples