Best of north ga mountains issue 26

Food, Music, Art, Events, Things To Do, Places To Go, Local Writers, Humor...And More!

Take a whiff of

SPRING!

Issue #26

AN OLD PAL Glad to have insightful writings of Ted Smith in our current issue It seems as if we have been enjoying spring now for several weeks, other than a brief cold spell in March. We hope our cover means warm weather is here to stay!

Along those lines, we hope you enjoy our latest spring-themed edition of The Best of the North Georgia Mountains, and we’ve definitely got a lot of great reading material for you to peruse, including a story by John Shivers about The Craddock Center. If you’re like us, you may have seen the brightly colored yellow sign for the center along 515 headed towards Blue Ridge, but like us, you may not realize all the good works this organization has been doing for youngsters for years!

Since we’re in the reading business, we appreciate any and all efforts by community leaders to increase the literacy level, so hopefully these kids will grow up to become fans of “The Best” for years to come.

Meanwhile, towards the back of this issue, we welcome another old friend to our FunPaper, veteran writer Ted Smith of Calhoun.

When I was just starting out in this business in 1973 (as a freshman working on the school paper at Calhoun High School), Ted was the sports editor at the Calhoun Times - and a hero and an inspiration to a fledgling journalist at the time. After I graduated, Ted moved on to other jobs, but he returned to work two more stints at the Times, once as city editor and years later as sports editor once again.

Subconsciously or intentionally, or perhaps a little of both, I’ve always tried to copy Ted’s style of writing and layout because I knew he was among the best I’ve ever been around in both those areas.

As I was making final preparations for this issue, I ran across an essay that Ted had just written, apparently just for the heck of it because he had no idea it would be published anywhere but on his Facebook page, but through a twist of fate, I saw it and asked him if we could use it here.

When Ted was sports editor, I always admired his ability to turn a game story in a work of art, giving his readers a profound insight into what the game meant in the bigger picture. They say there are computer programs now that can write a game story, but you’ll never convince me that a macine can explain just what the game really meant to the players and fans involved.

Turn to page 52, and you’ll find just such an example of Ted’s talent, though it has nothing to do with sports. You see, a great writer can put down words about any subject, and in this case, Ted just pulled memories out of his brain about an old man he befriended during his days in Athens.

I was touched by his recollections, and I believe you will be, too.

If I’m lucky enough for him to say yes, I hope to convince Ted to submit more stories to The Best, so once again the public (and myself) can enjoy the fruits of his nearly 50 years as a journalist.

Till next time, remember, always give it your Best shot!

By MITCH TALLEY Publisher n TAKE A WHIFF OF SPRING! n

Volume 4, Issue

#26

(c) 2017 The Best of the North Georgia Mountains, Inc. To advertise or suggest a story idea, call Mitch Talley at 678-882-6741.

Publisher: Mitch Talley Publisher’s Boss: Cindy Talley Founder: Robb Newman Founder’s Boss: Thia Newman Distribution: Eddie Ash, Mechelle Ballew, O. Myback Graphic Design: Mitch Talley, Cray Ola Writers: Mitch Talley, Robb Newman, Thia Newman, Lora Bunch, Brian Young, Raland Patterson, Kathi Hill, Kathi Chastain, John Shivers, Patricia Kovsky-Dotson, Ted Smith.

Southern Belle-gian Lucie Lovinfosse came to America four years ago from Belgium to learn the English language, earn a college degree, and, oh, play tennis, too. The soon-to-be Dalton State graduate shares her insight about living in the South before she heads back home in May to begin her career. And yes, she even loves grits now—with salt!

Lucie Lovinfosse at her computer in the Whitfield County Administration Building No. 1, where she is interning with the Finance Department.

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Would you be able to pull up roots and travel thousands of miles across the globe just to learn a second language?

At age 18?

Fresh out of high school, Lucie Lovinfosse did just that, temporarily leaving her famSTORY AND PHOTOS ily and friends behind in Belgium to come to the United States four years

By MITCH TALLEY ago – with the simple goal of learning to speak English, earning a college degree, and then returning home to find a good job.

“I hope the fruits of my labor are ripe for many generations to come.” - Donovan Nichols

Her inspiring journey began in 2013 as a freshman at William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Miss., but that school proved not to be the right fit for the then 18-year-old student athlete.

Lucie had learned how to play tennis as a 10-year-old in Belgium, proving to be quite talented at the sport, in fact, and that athletic ability ultimately turned into her ticket to attend college in the U.S. “At first I wanted to do six months in Costa Rica and six months in the U.S.,” Lucie says, “because I wanted to learn Spanish and English. But they told me that I wasn’t gonna get to play tennis there for sure which wasn’t acceptable to me because I really wanted to keep on playing.”

Lucie’s high school coach knew an agent that organizes an exchange program that sends athletes to the United States to study for four years, and that’s how she ended up attending William Carey.

It’s also how she eventually wound up at Dalton State College, where she’ll be graduating with a degree in Finance and Applied Economics on May 13.

“A friend at William Carey was coming to Dalton State,” Lucie said, “so I applied here as well and they recruited me for tennis so I came to Dalton.”

Dalton has proven to be a perfect fit for the now 21-year-old, who was co-captain of the college’s tennis team last year and has been named captain of this year’s squad that is currently competing.

Lucie is also in the middle of a 120-hour internship with Whitfield County government, where Alicia Vaughn and Carol Roberts have her busy helping the finance department crunch numbers.

Frightening at first Lucie admits that at first, it was “scary” coming to the United States by herself.

“At least because when I came here, I didn’t speak English,” she recalls. “I mean, I knew, ‘hi, how are you?’ but I didn’t understand much. So I had to go through the customs when I landed in America and show my papers that I’m legal here. I didn’t speak English so they were asking me all of these questions, and I was just like, ‘I don’t know, I don’t know.’”

She pauses to giggle, then says, “But then it was OK. I went to pick up my luggage, and at the time I was 18 and that was the first time I had ever gone that far from home, without my parents, without anyone.”

Lucie expected someone from the university to pick her up at the airport in Mississippi, but it turned out there was no one waiting for her.

“But then I heard two people speaking French, two young guys, so I went to see them and said, ‘hey, are you going to William Carey?’ They’re like, ‘yes, we are.’ I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, great’ and I asked them who was going to pick us up, when’s he gonna be here? They told me, oh, he’s gonna be here in three hours because he Lucie Lovinfosse in action on the tennis court. She’s the captain of the was waiting for all the students, from all the flights, to Dalton State women’s team this year. (Photos courtesy Dalton State)

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“A life lived for others, is the only life worth living.” - Albert Einstein

come pick us up. But I didn’t know that and he didn’t tell me, so I was just crying at first, I was so scared.”

Since then, though, Lucie has done a lot of growing up.

“I feel like being here made me grow up so fast, just because I have to pay utilities myself, I have to pay my car insurance, pay my rent – it’s not my money but I’m still the one that has to go over there and pay it on time, go get my money order for my rent, do everything.

I have to do my own laundry, I have to cook every day, I have to clean my apartment and my room, wash my dishes. I’ve had to do all that for the past three years on my own so when I go home and see my friends just letting their parents do everything, then I’m like, hmmmm…”

She looks at herself as “pretty independent” now. “I guess I had no choice,” she says with a laugh. “I know how to do pretty much everything on my own now. I think in America, people get independent faster, at least students, because most of them when they go to college, they don’t stay in their hometown. They can go to Alabama, New York, anywhere. But at home, we have universities in every major city so students usually stay in their hometown so they stay at home the whole time through college, and sometimes after that, until they have some money and can move out.”

Based on conversations overheard at the Whitfield County Administration Building No. 1, Lucie has picked up the English language well.

“I feel like being here made me grow up so fast,” Lucie says.

At first, though, while she was still in Mississippi, she relied on her French-speaking friends more than she would have liked.

She credits moving to Dalton with helping her English speaking skills “because nobody speaks French.”

“After two months, my teammates and my coach told me that, wow, it’s so much better – just because I had to, I couldn’t do anything else.

And if I didn’t know how to say something, I had to explain the word I was trying to say and they would tell me the word that I was looking for.

But I had to explain in English first so they could tell me.”

She admits she still has trouble saying exactly what she wants in English, which is particularly troublesome to the jovial student when she’s trying to crack a joke with her friends.

“Sometimes I want to make a joke,” she says, “and it happens to me all the time. My roommates make fun of me all the time because like if she says something and I want to…” “…make a quick comeback?” suggests co-worker Roberts, who had stopped by during the interview to make observations.

“Yes,” Lucie agrees. “I have my idea to come back, and I’m like uh, uh… And then there’s one word that I don’t know how to say and I’m like (silence). Then I think about it a while and finally say it and it doesn’t have any effect anymore because it took so long to find my word!”

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“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.” - Mother Teresa

Or other times when she tries to make a joke, “I’m oh yeah, this, this, and then that’s not the way you say it in English, it’s not proper English, so then my joke doesn’t make sense and I’m laughing on my own and my roommate is sitting there with a blank look on her face. That happens a lot because I always make jokes, I like to joke.”

As for which is easiest – reading, speaking, or listening to English – Lucie has a quick answer.

“Speaking is the hardest,” Lucie believes. “I had a final presentation last semester for my Business Communication class, and I knew the whole thing. I had been repeating … no…”

“Practicing?” Carol suggests.

“Yes, practicing my speech so many times in my apartment,” Lucie picks up, “just practicing to know it and I got to class and I knew it and I said, ‘Hello,’ and then I went like… and I couldn’t remember. I got really mad because I knew it … I knew it!”

Stage fright or not, Lucie still wound up making a good grade on her speech!

Life in America?

First, a quick geography lesson. Belgium has about the same population as the state of Georgia - 10 million - but those people are compressed into an area about 10 times smaller.

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That fact leads to one of many observations by Lucie about America.

“You have a lot of land – everything is more spread out here,” she says. “At home, it’s more like on a street, you have houses, but the walls are stuck to each other. It’s pretty much like that everywhere at home.

It’s different here … like you have ranches. We don’t really have that.

You see horses everywhere here – I mean we see that at home but not in the cities. I would say, it’s more like a country style of living here, but over there it’s more like a city.”

Something else she’s noticed here perhaps confirms that difference in lifestyles.

“We don’t have many sidewalks here,” she said. “That’s the first thing I realized when I came here because I love to walk at night.”

She also says people here use their cars a lot more, “for everything, like you have drive-thrus for the bank. We have drive-thrus but only for fast foods. Here there are drive-thrus for a lot of things.”

Lucie noticed that everything seems to be bigger here, too.

“Like your large size drinks,” she says. “We don’t even have that size at home! Our large cup is like your small, for example. It seems like everything is so much bigger here to me, everything – offices are bigger, schools are bigger … and the highway in Atlanta.”

She also has picked up on the Southern reputation for being friendly, which led her to talk about the food here.

“Here, everything is fried,” she said. “I guess when you talk about the

“If we all do random acts of kindness daily, we might just set the world in the right direction.” - Unknown

South, everything is fried. You eat a lot of chicken, too, and you have things that we don’t – like dumplings or baked potatoes. We do have baked potatoes, but we don’t do them the way you do them with the sour cream and butter and bacon and all that.

“We don’t have gravy,” she continues, “and we don’t have grits. There are so many things we don’t have. I would say we eat a little bit of salad, a little bit of meat, and a little bit of rice or potato or pasta.

We don’t eat as many frozen food plates – prepared meals. I say that because my roommates, that’s all they eat!”

She says in Belgium, they only eat out once every two or three weeks “because it’s not a big thing to eat out. If we eat out, it’s like, oh, I want something nice today. I’m gonna go eat out, like you want a good steak. If not, we just cook at home every day, every meal.”

Asked for her favorite restaurant in Dalton, she says that’s a tough decision.

“I really like Panera,” she said. “I do the Pick 2 – tomato soup or cheddar broccoli soup and the greek salad. I like the bagels, the ones with cinnamon crunch – those are really good.”

She’s also become a fan of a Southern staple.

“Grits? Oh I love it. I love grits, cheese grits.”

With salt or sugar?

“Salt,” she replies.

“And I love biscuits and gravy! At Bojangle’s they have really good ones, and at Crackle…”

“Cracker?” a co-worker suggests.

“Yes, Cracker Barrel.”

Belgium for the Christmas holidays and the summer break, and her parents visited her in the States the summer after her freshman year. But they’ll no doubt be thrilled to see their daughter again.

“My family knew that I really wanted to come to America,” Lucie said, “so they were happy about it. But I guess they were really scared to let me come here on my own, and I know my mom was really, really sad.

Still now, she wants me back home. But they’ve been really supportive the whole time, and I think they’re pretty proud.”

Her fellow Whitfield County government employees are proud of the job she’s done, too.

“It’s not only with the language difference am I basically surprised at how well she does,” Roberts says. “In that regard, we’re talking about very specific words in finance, plus the fact that we’re talking about things like taxes, LOST, and SPLOST, words that don’t have anything to do with Belgium the way our tax system works and the way government

In the home stretch After three years at Dalton State, Lucie is finally in the final months of her stay in America on a student visa.

Luckily, she made it through college before budgetary cuts led to the termination of several sports at DSC, including her beloved women’s tennis.

“They asked us if we wanted to still compete this year,” Lucie said. “We didn’t have to since they are cutting us, but it’s my senior year so I wanted to play, and I’m the captain as well. I asked the other girls if they would do that for me, and we have a freshman that never played tennis in college. I told them maybe she’d like one year of experience at least, so my teammates said they would do it.”

While she’s finishing up tennis and her studies here, she’s getting ready for a big month of May. Her parents, along with her grandmother, her sister and boyfriend, and a cousin, will be coming here on the 9th to help her close down her life in Dalton. Of course, she’ll also be receiving her degree from Dalton State on the 13th, and she and her family will be leaving the next day for a trip to Chicago and then a train ride across the country to Southern California.

Over the past four years, Lucie has been able to make a few trips to

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works is completely different.

“I’ve found her to be really bright. She catches on,” Roberts says, snapping her fingers twice to show how fast. “I basically am telling her something once, and she’s mature enough to ask questions. She’s not too afraid to ask questions, and then she gets right on it. I don’t have to repeat myself, not that I would mind because she’s young. But you would expect - she’s learning, this is her first job - but instead she’s acting like a 30-year-old who’s already worked before.”

What will she do next?

Speaking of work, Lucie says she isn’t sure what she’ll wind up do-

“Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty.” - Anne Herbert

ing after graduation but has decided to tackle a career with her newfound skills learned in America, back home in Belgium.

“It’s like a big idea with my family that the more languages you speak, the better of a job or the easier you’re gonna find one,” Lucie says.

“It makes you a lot more attractive to a company,” Roberts interjects.

“Exactly,” Lucie says. “Like, for example, if I go home now and I show them I know a little bit of Spanish, I know English, I speak French, and I know a little bit of Dutch but really almost nothing, and I have my bachelor in Finance, I’m probably gonna find a job really easily. Just because I can – if I’m in a company where they have to deal with Spain or Germany or America or the U.K., well, I can probably communicate with all of them, so I’m kind of an asset to them.”

Besides the friends she’s made in America, she says there is something else she’ll miss upon her return to Belgium.

“Here, if I walk in the street or if I’m grocery shopping and someone passes me,” she says, “I’m gonna say hi and people are gonna say hi to me. And even if they don’t know me, they are gonna ask me how I’m doing, you know what I mean? They are really, really friendly. When I’m at home, if you’re walking the street, people just look at the floor and they pass you and they don’t say hi they don’t say anything. When I go home, I have a dog so I go and walk with him … with it, and I would pass someone and go hi and they would look at me like I was crazy. I’ve always said hi to everyone, I’ve just always done it.”

Now, unfortunately for Whitfield County, Lucie will soon be saying bye.

“It’s like a big idea with my family that the more languages you speak, the better of a job or the easier you’re gonna find one,” Lucie says.

“Random acts of kindness are not random. They are actions of people holding themselves to a higher standard.” - Unknown

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Songs, Stories, and Hope - We Deliver!

THE CRADDOCK CENTER A group of 4-year-old children in a North Georgia Pre-K classroom was actively and enthusiastically engrossed in singing songs, complete with arm and foot movements in sync with the music. It was a scene totally appropriate for such an age group. But there was more to this picture.

As Dr. Beth Roberts, interim executive director of The Craddock Center, Inc. in Cherry Log, relates the story, the teacher pointed out one little boy who appeared to be fully invested.

Turns out the boy was autistic with compromised socialization skills and was unable to speak -- except when music was involved.

Thanks to The Craddock Center, this little boy had the opportunity to experience the music that made such a difference. More children than can be counted in North Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina have been positively impacted since the Center first opened its doors in 2001.

By JOHN SHIVERS

The Story Express is an ordinary white van that transports children to extraordinary worlds through the books it distributes.

Look for the sign with the bright yellow sunburst alongside the southbound lane of Highway 515 in Cherry Log. It’ll direct you to 186 Fred Craddock Drive and The Craddock Center campus.

Another satisfied “customer” leaves The Story Express with her own personal book in hand. Looks like she can’t wait to open that book and read.

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“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

It’s all about the children, as the sign with the bright yellow sunburst alongside Highway 515 proclaims. “Songs & Stories for Children in Southern Appalachia,” is emblazoned across the bottom of the sign, and gives a hint to the organization’s mission. But that one line doesn’t begin to tell the entire story. There’s so much more to the ministry that Dr. Fred Craddock and his wife, Nettie, launched to serve these Appalachian children.

A story that Craddock often told related the inspiration and philosophy behind the creation of the secular ministry that bears his name. A pastor was visiting a woman whose poverty status was readily apparent. Yet her tumbledown home included a number of crafts and works of art. When he inquired why she spent her money on such non-essentials, the woman is reported to have said, “Even the poor deserve their pretties.” That philosophy, Craddock would later say, explains why The Craddock Center does what it does.

Their primary mission is the enhancement of life for the younger members of the nine-county region the Center serves. They don’t provide food, clothing or shelter – but they do have connections to assist families with those needs. And the “Living Room” is a collection of donated furniture given to families in need. With one exception, all their programs are geared to enriching children and their families. The majority of the Head Start and Pre-K students they serve qualify for free and reduced lunches.

Reading is a favorite pastime of these Head Start and Pre-K children.

The age 3- and 4-year-old students experience early literacy activities inspired by the Appalachian tradition of songs and stories designed to break the cycles of low level literacy fueled by poverty.

Studies have shown that some 85 percent of brain development happens before age 5. Speaking to that, Dr. Roberts explains, “If the kids know the stories and songs, they will keep repeating those stories and singing those songs.

The earlier we attack the problem, the fewer students down This child is obviously very the road will happy with that new cap. Childrop out.” dren also get handmade woodSo what are the various en toys and books from Santa. programs that literally go to the children where they are – physically, emotionally and intellectually? And how do they accomplish all these activities? It all began so simply. Dr. and Mrs. Craddock

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“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them.” —John F. Kennedy

received a call about a child who needed help. Later, there was a request for a storyteller.

A number of unrelated opportunities evolved into yet another call from God. This man, who already had an illustrious ministry in his professional rearview mirror, undertook to answer that call.

While the Center is housed in the original Cherry Log Christian Church, the Center isn’t affiliated with that church or any denomination. Its activities are The Chapel at the Craddock totally secular, except Center was formerly the Cherry for the two, one-day Log Christian Church. preaching conferences hosted each March and October. However, a number of churches are among the hundreds of “Friends” across the country who financially underwrite the programs and operations.

What emerges from this diverse team effort are the Children’s Enrichment Program that delivers songs and stories to preschoolers; Camp Craddock, a summer camp experience that brings the camp to the doorsteps of the children; and, Story Express, that gives new books to children year-round and acts as a lending library during the summer months.

Through the Children’s Enrichment Program, The Craddock Center hires musicians and storytellers to work in classrooms in the nine-county region. In the last year, some 526 hours of storytelling helped children build critical pre-literacy skills. Numbers which really illustrate the critical illiteracy problem in low-income households show that those children

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only receive 25 total hours of being read to before starting school. Compare that with 1,350 hours of being read to that middleincome children enjoy.

At the end of the day, the Children’s Enrichment Program nurtures self-esteem and shapes a child for successful educational accomplishment down the road. Nearly 1,300 pre-school children last year in 62 classrooms regularly received stories and musical / movement education, and at no cost to the schools served.

Camp Craddock, unlike traditional camps, takes the activities to the trailer parks, apartment complex parking lots, and housing projects where children live at seven sites in Gilmer and Fannin counties. These children might otherwise not have access to summer enrichment. This is a way to combat the summer academic erosion that is so heavily pronounced in children trapped in lowincome families.

The program is administered in eight weekly blocks by Center staff and a coterie of volunteers who donate their time and energies. They come to deliver “happy and hope.” Each camp day teaches children a song, they hear a read-aloud story and make a craft to keep and give them a sense of accomplishment, and they enjoy physical play. In addition to a nutritious breakfast and lunch, they’re sent home each Friday with a snack pack for the weekend.

It’s estimated Long distance volunteers knit enough caps for that every child to get one at Christmas, ensuring upperthey have something to wear during the cold income winter months. “Look at our pretty new caps,” homes may these children’s expressions say. have almost 200 ageappropriate books as compared to only two age-appropriate books in lower-income homes. Yet studies show that just four to five age-appropriate books can close the summer reading achievement gap. This is a

“To do more for the world than the world does for you, that is success.” —Henry Ford

need the Story Express works to address on a major scale.

A white van with “The Story Express” on the side visits all the school locations three times a year. At each visit, children climb aboard and have a chance to select and handle the books that interest them. Volunteers interact with the children, and each child leaves with a book he or she has selected. More than 3,900 books were distributed during Fiscal Year 2016. The van visits regional health fairs, food pantries and community events, distributing books to any interested child. Books are donated by a nationwide network of supporters.

During the summer months, in conjunction with Camp Craddock, the van load of books becomes a lending library. Books are loaned to the children, and campers are encouraged to talk about what they’re reading. Most of the children do not have transportation to a public library, but thanks to The Craddock Center and its volunteers, these young readers keep their academic skills current, visit new places, and are exposed to new ideas through those loaned books.

Individual volunteers assist the small staff with a variety of tasks throughout the year. In 2016, 130 volunteers logged 2,800 donated hours. Two of those who have a long tenure are Louise Hellman, a retired teacher from Cobb County, and Jack Senterfitt, a lawyer now living in Cherry Log, who is also known in his retirement career as “Santa Jack.”

Louise’s association began more than five years ago, when she and her grandchildren encountered “The Story Express” at a community fes-

These ladies are five of the many volunteers, women and men, who invest their time, talents and other resources to help The Craddock Center fulfill its mission to deliver songs, stories and hope to the children they serve.

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” —Mahatma Gandhi

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tival. Volunteers invited the children to come aboard and select a book.

Her immediate assumption was that she would be expected to pay for the books. Imagine her surprise when there was no charge, and through that encounter, she “discovered” The Craddock Center.

Fast forward to 2017. Today, she and other volunteers from her church, Mt. Zion United Methodist Church in Marietta, make regular trips to Cherry Log to process the donated books. In addition, they go out to take books to the children and donate the month of June to assist with Camp Craddock.

Once she discovered Dr. Craddock’s vision and ministry, Louise readily admits that she was on board in a big way. She came back to Marietta and began recruiting fellow church members and friends to join “Team Mt. Zion.” “This has done so much for us as individuals,” she explains.

“But it’s exactly what Dr. Craddock wanted. People don’t realize what they’re missing.”

She goes on to explain about the child who approached her full of joy to share that his mother had accepted Jesus a few weeks before. “The Craddock Center is all about love and children,” she affirms. Then she laughs, and confesses that one good dividend of their team’s efforts is the fellowship they enjoy. Some of that fellowship occurs at the many good places in the area to eat. “We know them all,” she says with a chuckle.

Then she gets serious again. “We’d go even without the food. It’s come to mean that much to all of us.” And in this case, “us” includes husband Gordon and even her grandchildren, who go back to help with Camp Craddock. She relates that she overheard her grandson calling a camper “Bud.” The boy explained that he didn’t know the child’s name, so he just called him his buddy. Gordon and the husbands of many of the other ladies go frequently to handle maintenance and building projects. In addition, the men use their technology to make pictures of the various children, and each child goes home with a framed photo.

Children learn through a combination of hearing stories read and participating in group music activities.

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Dr. Fred Craddock ‘Like no other preacher you have ever heard’

Following his retirement as the Jack Bandy Distinguished Professor of Preaching and New Testament at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, Dr. Fred Craddock and his wife relocated to Cherry Log, Georgia. This small Gilmer County community boasted of 119 men, women and children in the 2010 Census.

Soon after their arrival, this man who was renowned for his unique sermon delivery, who was born in the small town of Humboldt in western Tennessee, founded the Cherry Log Christian Church. But that was just the beginning of his “retirement.”

He often said his father’s greatest gift to their family was his storytelling ability. Craddock was often called a preaching genius, who elevated the act of sermon-delivery to an art form. His inductive, conversational preaching style unfolded like a short story. It was said he noticed a lot about ordinary human life on earth. And in so doing, made everyone feel different.

Fred Craddock died at age 86 on March 6, 2015, in the community he adopted and served during the last chapter of his life. The legacies he left are numerous; one need only speak to those who were his neighbors. The multi-faceted aspects of this servant of God quickly tumble down like mountain stream waters over a rocky creek bed.

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” —Charles Dickens

Louise was initially impressed with what the Center was doing for the children. Now she’s a part of that program and wouldn’t trade the experiences. “I go there every opportunity I get.”

Jack Senterfitt crossed paths with The Craddock Center when his wife, Trisha In addition to reading and singLyons Sentering, making crafts and opportunifitt, a retired ties to discharge their energies, Presbyterian children at Camp Craddock get minister, bethe chance to form friendship came the Cenbonds and self-esteem. ter’s executive director 11 years ago. Shortly afterward, the Center’s Santa Claus passed away. It was suggested to Jack that he might be a good fit for the job.

Turns out, he says, “It’s the best job I’ve ever had.” Trisha accompanies him now as Mrs. Santa Claus. “Nobody gets more out of these visits than I do.”

During two weeks in December, he and Mrs. Claus visit all the students served by the Children’s Enrichment Program, distributing books, wooden toys made by Texas volunteers, and knit caps made by other volunteers. It’s during these visits that the often unexpected delivers the biggest blessings to the couple.

Santa recalls one severely autistic little girl who was calmed by his knowledge of how to successfully communicate with her. He’s been learning sign language and has already A total picture of happiness. been A new wooden toy and Santa able to use Claus. How much better could it get for this little boy and his limited Santa as well? mastery of the skill to advantage. He even traveled to Honduras to study Spanish by immersion, so he could speak with Hispanic children.

“Being Santa is the most fun in the world,” he says. But it’s also enlightening. He marvels that children of middle-class means ask for electronics and technology, while low-income children often ask for a box of food or warm clothes. One child even asked for a McDonald’s® Happy Meal, because Contact The Craddock Center at P.O. he’d never had one.

Box 69, Cherry Log, GA 30522; 706“It’s taught me a lot of 632-1772; craddockcenter@tds.org; things.” Early on, he www.craddockcenter.org. asked the children to promise to tell their Physical address: 176 Fred Craddock parents on Christmas Drive, Cherry Log, GA 30522 morning that they loved them. But he soon learned that too many children don’t live with family. Now he just asks them to tell whoever they’re with that they love them.

“These precious children of God,” he says, “none of them chose the lifestyle they have to live.” He confesses to having tears in his eyes as he tells what he’s seen. “Many of them have no reading matter in the home except what The Craddock Center gives them. And too often, the wooden toys handmade by the volunteers in Texas are the only toys they have.

His job as Santa has “Oooh, I’m looking for a good paid great rewards. “I’m not book,” the expression on this the same man I was when little girl’s face seems to say, I started.” For one thing, during her visit to the world Jack no longer needs a of reading onboard The Story fake beard. He’s grown Express. his own full, rich white facial adornment. But aside from that, he says, “When I’m looking at those children, I’m looking at the face of God.” Dr. Craddock believed that you did something to make a difference in the life of at least one person every day. Santa Jack hopes he’s doing that. “There’s nothing better I could be doing with my time.”

What exists today as The Craddock Center isn’t the end of a story.

Instead, it’s an ongoing, involved program that continues to evolve and redefine, for the sole benefit of the children of the region. “Happy & Hope. We Deliver,” their logo attests. “Enriching lives through service,” it continues, because even the poor deserve their pretties.

“We’re all community with no strings attached. We do what we do,” Dr. Roberts says, “because it’s the right thing to do.”

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. ” —Aesop

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By Patricia Holden Kovsky-Dotson

From the mind of a little child It is so amazing how some things stick in your mind from childhood on through the remainder of your life. I have figured out that we remember what makes an impression upon us and not necessarily the things that we should remember. Is this why I can remember many childhood events but sometimes cannot remember what I went to get in the next room? Oh, well, we won't get into that at this time!

All of these upcoming stories are memories made when my family was on vacation to my grandparents’ house in Middle Georgia, or on a weekend.

There was this special time when I was just 6 years old that I spent six weeks in the summer all by myself. I can't remember being homesick, and certainly there were no telephones to call home.

I probably was entertained and kept so busy that I didn't know the difference.

The only time I remember thinking of home was just

26

“Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference.” —Helen James

before dark when that ole train came through below the cotton patch a-blowing that awful, sad and lonely whine as it crossed the road that led to the house. Just like that ole train whistle, my homesickness soon blew over!

Actually, one of the things I looked forward to was when it got dark.

My folks would sit on the front porch. My aunt and I would command the swing and sing little songs and choruses. Naturally, I knew very few, so she taught me lots of church and camp songs. Yes, I remembered some of them and have taught them to my children.

Mammaw and Pawpaw had to listen to us as we drowned out the chirping of the katydids or whatever was singing on that dark night.

Part of the time I had to stop and catch some lightning bugs before they all got away! While we sat there we would plan what we were going to do the next day, and soon it was time to bury down in those fabulous feather beds where monsters could not find you because the feathers were so deep!

This story would impress only the mind of a child, and I did it every time I thought nobody was looking! When we finished eating our noon meal in the dining room, I discovered that I could go to this knothole in the door and peek through it and see into the kitchen. It was just my height at the time, which put my wandering eyes right on the kitchen table where one or two of the single workmen were eating. Mercy, what I did see! I did not know that a person could eat so much. Really it was probably not that much for a young man who had worked behind a plow in the hot sun all morning.

Most of the time when I got to the knothole they were just about ready for the second course of homemade butter and homemade syrup.

They took their knife and lopped off a great big chunk of butter, which was already warm from the kitchen heat. They would then pour syrup over it until it was ready to run off the plate. Next came the cornbread and biscuit which they used to sop up what they must have thought as a heavenly feast just before eating their dessert. I had never seen this before, and I had to be reprimanded for my looking and giggles. Guess

“Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together.� —Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

27

this is why I don't like butter and sorghum syrup today!

Back in those days when women wanted a little “butter and egg” money as the mountain folks would say, they would do what my Mammaw did once when I was there for a visit. I watched her (and helped) get vegetables out of the garden, wash and pack them, and kill two young fryers, while at the same time she was getting butter and fresh eggs together. Yes, she was going to the Curb Market in town.

I still can't believe that Mammaw ever drove a car, and even more I can't believe that they let me go with her into town! I remember the ride standing in the backseat. I had no idea what was going on until she pulled up in one of those shady streets, got out of the car and began to take out her produce.

It was not anytime until people were gathering around for the “kill.” The produce was fresh and beautiful, but I still can't believe she handed a man a fryer out of a pan she had in the car!

They didn't have store-bought paper in those days. I loved that trip into town so much, and to this day I love a roadside market and a flea market, because I got started early. Wonder how much money she got for that fryer?

One time my aunt asked me if I wanted to go to the pasture to go blackberry picking. This did not sound too exciting to me until she said that when we got our buckets full of berries she would take me to see the Indian mounds.

We walked down the sandy road and across the main highway to the pasture. There were patches of berries here and there out in the open so it wasn't hard to get to them. I was no longer interested in picking berries because I wanted to go see the Indian mounds which I had never heard of before. Even if I had, I didn't know that they were in the pasture, and I certainly didn't know they were graves!

She told me how the Indians used to live in the area many years ago and that when an Indian died they buried him in a grave piled high with dirt and then they put rocks on top of that.

My, my, let me see one! In a way, I was scared at going to see a grave, but really couldn't wait to get there. Sure enough, they had remained there through all those many years and still had the rocks placed side by side on top of the mound. The graves were just scattered around, quite unlike graveyards where they are side by side.

When we got back home my Mammaw made us a wonderful blackberry pie from our precious berries. Somehow I was not very hungry.

Somehow I didn't want to eat the pie! My little mind was on the poor old Indians lying in their graves – dead – with a pile of rocks on top of them!

I have rambled on and on about my memories at my grandparents’, but half of the fun was in getting there. Actually, it was a long ride in those days even with a fairly good car, because you had to go through

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every town, stop at every traffic light, stop to eat, stop to go to the bathroom. Then you also had to go right down through the heart of Atlanta with all the traffic and street cars going every which way.

I remember one time sitting in the back seat and looking over to the sidewalks as we drove through Atlanta. I kept seeing all these signs on the side of the street reading, “Car Stop.” After a while I had had enough of this and said, “Daddy, you don't know a thing about driving. You have not stopped at a one of these signs that reads, “Car Stop.” After a big laugh, I was told that that meant where the street cars stopped to pick up passengers. How did I know? I could barely read the sign “Car Stop,” and anyway everybody should know by now that I am a country girl!

One of the things I looked forward to doing on almost every trip, was to stop at Sears & Roebuck on Ponce de Leon in Atlanta. This was a treat to us kids because we had certainly studied their catalog, and now we could see what the things really looked like. It was such a big store to us, and of course, the ride in the elevator was the most exciting experience of all back then.

Country came to town!

On these trips my daddy never was known to stop at a restaurant, and there were no drive-ins in that day. The only fast foods that I can remember seeing were the Krystals in their gleaming metal buildings. Well, we never stopped there either, but naturally, we did eat. My daddy was saving time and saving money which I'm sure he did not have to spare in those early years.

Daddy stopped one time to go into a deli in a Piggly-Wiggly. Needless to say, my sister and I had never heard of a Piggly-Wiggly, and we thought that name was so funny. And especially the little fat pig on the building that probably looked somewhat like us!

Anyway, daddy bought a loaf of French bread and some ham for us to eat. Beyond that, I can't remember what else, because I got lost in the aroma, for nothing was so delicious and so much fun as having a picnic in the backseat of the car as we rode down the road.

When it was war time – World War II, daddy would stop along the highway and pick up hitch-hiking soldiers or sailors going home on leave. There were many traveling on foot in that day.

Oh, when my sister and I saw one up ahead, we were so excited. We were too young to flirt, but we loved to hear daddy talk to them and ask questions as to where they were going and what they did in the service.

It was all too soon to us that we got to the town where they needed to get off, so we stopped and let them out. Our thanks for the ride as the car pulled away was a big smile and a military salute! You think that didn't impress a patriotic kid? To me, they might as well have been the

“Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind.” — Eric Hoffer

President of the United States.

Of these last traveling stories, this one almost put me in the headlines and brushed me with the rich and famous! I have saved it for last even though I was somewhere under the age of 2 when this happened. My folks related this story.

We had stopped to get gas at what we then called the filling station. We were just outside Atlanta going toward Eatonton. Anyway, it was when the world renowned and famous aviator Charles Lindbergh had had his child kidnapped. It was news everywhere even though the only media then was the newspaper and radio, and some folks had neither. Being in the city, the photograph of the Lindbergh baby was plastered all over billboards and the newspapers, so everybody knew what the baby looked like.

They were having roadblocks everywhere, and every cop in the USA was on the lookout for the kidnapped child because they did not know where the baby would be taken. While we were at the station a policeman approached my daddy and was almost sure that I was the famous Lindbergh baby. I was, no doubt, the same age and size and my hair was so blond it was almost white and I had curls all over my head. Well, so did the baby that was missing! I am sure the cop thought that he had hit the jackpot right there at the station. My daddy said he kept telling the policeman that it could not be that baby for I was a GIRL. The policeman did not believe him and made him prove it right there and then that I was a girl!

It would have been a bad scene if I had been a boy! They might have even taken me until it could be proven that I was not the Lindbergh baby.

You can imagine what kind of life I could have had literally flying high with my “other” daddy.

Anyway, if I had been taken by the Lindbergh family (provided I had been a boy), I would never have experienced all the joys of my life and you would not be reading my stories. But one important thing, I would have gotten my picture on the front page of The Atlanta Constitution!

“If the world seems cold to you, kindle fires to warm it.” — Lucy Larcom (1824-1893)

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An interview with an artist...

BILLY ROPER

I had the pleasure to sit down and talk further with local artist Billy Roper. You may remember an interview I did with him last year on his folk art style paintings, wood carving and marble carvings.

This artist loves to try his hand at many different styles and types of art and never ceases to amaze me with what he is up to next.

We sat on his front porch chatting about his wood cuts and how much he enjoys doing them. Most people don’t know that each one has to be carved completely backwards or opposite of how it will look once inked and pressed onto paper.

It takes a lot of artistic vision and talent not only to envision these images but also to do the work to bring them to life. Billy Roper is definitely the visionary with artistic talent that this type of art needs.

Lora: What have you been up to for the last year?

Billy: Painting, marble carving, and wood cuts.

Lora: When did you start doing wood cuts?

Billy: Started when I was a kid and just playing around with different ideas and different materials.

Lora: Did you have a teacher or take a class on this?

Billy: I am self-taught to do wood cuts.

Lora: Where do you get your tools you use?

Billy: I have close to 200 chisels, and most of them are handmade by me.

Lora: How did you get started doing them?

Billy: I have been carving and whittling since I was 3 and can make it look computer generated if I wanted to but I like the so-

By LORA BUNCH

30

“I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.” — Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)

called mistakes because they are like magic patterns and I like the natural look of things best.

Lora: How long does it usually take you to do one?

Billy: I’ve been working on these last ones for about a month now.

Lora: What do you like about doing the wood cuts?

Billy: You are working in reverse and whatever you cut away makes the lines and design and that is fascinating and challenging to me. I like to refine it down to as little as possible so it’s less complicated and has more purity in the line.

Lora: How much time do you spend on any one art piece of your various artistic creations normally?

Billy: Anywhere from a few hours to a week or month depending on how complex it is.

Lora: What are your goals for 2017?

Billy: That’s a hard question to answer but I suppose to win the lotto or get a dog but the dog is iffy.

Lora: Where have you been selling the most art lately?

Billy: On line being shipped out to places like Indianapolis and New Mexico. I have people promoting for me.

Lora: Do you feel that people need a certain training or background to be an artist?

Billy: Degrees and pieces of paper are not who you are. There is nothing wrong with education, but it doesn’t make you who you are. I am an artist and would be regardless of how many degrees I did or did not have.

Lora: How would you define success or progress?

Billy: When the Tibetans become monks instead of warriors that’s progress and sitting and talking to friends and enjoying nature that’s the good stuff in life that makes it a success.

Billy used to work in a cabinet shop making elaborate cabinets like raised panels and doors, but when he started working for himself he started doing more primitive and rustic designs because he likes those best.

He prefers the unique and natural state of things, and it shows in his work as no two creations are exactly the same.

When you buy an art piece from Billy Roper of any kind, you are getting a one-of-a-kind art piece from an artist who is full of talent and deeply passionate about his work.

You can find him on Facebook and at times he even does some local art shows around the North Georgia mountains. He also has some pieces in Cork and Canvas in Dahlonega.

A music interview with...

WENTWORTH & LEVENWOLF

It is always a wonderful experience to sit down and talk with people who have a deep love for music. I was honored to be able to experience this with Kerry Wentworth and Darrell Levenwolf.

I drove up the beautiful mountains to their lovely lakefront home in Jasper, where they raise their little girl and play music together often.

‘Patience and persistence. It takes a lot out of you to keep doing

By LORA BUNCH it especially as you get older....’

We sat and talked about their musical background as well as shared some laughs. They are a very down to earth couple with a wonderful sense of humor. At times I would almost forget it was an interview because of how at home they made me feel.

Lora: When did you start singing? Writing?

Darrell: I was 21 years old and I play guitar, bass, banjo and mandolin. I also write songs.

Kerry: I have been singing my whole life. I started out with Yamaha School of Music at 2 and started playing guitar at 8. I started writing at age 12.

Lora: What does music mean or represent to you?

Darrell: It is the sound of grace and love and an action to express your feelings.

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“Happiness never decreases by being shared.” — The 14th Dalai Lama

-Darrell & Kerry

Advice to new performers

Kerry: It is my outlet.

Lora: What was the first tune(s) you learned?

Darrell: Mine was “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd.

Kerry: Mine was too for playing and “Hotel California” was the first one I sang.

Lora: Is your family musical?

Darrell: No Kerry: Yes, my dad was in a band in high school and college and they opened for some well-known regional name bands.

Lora: Which famous musicians have you worked with if any?

Kerry opened for Nadirah Shakoor who is a singer with Jimmy Buffett and West Cook who won Rolling Stone’s best artist of the year.

Lora: How often and for how long do you practice?

Kerry: When I need a break and when I can get time in, sometimes at night after our daughter is asleep.

Darrell: I usually play in the morning when I have the most energy and I am most creative.

Lora: Where would you like to perform one day?

Kerry: Red Rock Lora: What bands do you play with?

Darrell: Choir Boys Underground, Bridge of Blue, Brett Schieber a friend, and Star Cannon.

Kerry: Star Cannon Lora: Who are your biggest musical inspirations?

Darrell: Radio Head and Beck and Pink Floyd as far as bands go.

Kerry: Willie Nelson and Bette Midler.

Lora: What is the funniest thing that has happened at a show?

Kerry: Darrell was playing with Brett and there was a guy who was throwing chess pieces up on the stage.

Lora: Where can we find your music?

Darrell: Reverb Nation, Facebook and Kerry has an album on ITunes.

Lora: What do you see in the future for your music?

Darrell: I want to keep growing and getting better.

Kerry: I would like to play more local venues.

Lora: Where are you from?

Kerry: Jasper, Georgia Darrell: I was born in Delaware and lived in Maryland but then moved to Marietta when I was about 7 years old.

Lora: What is your favorite song you have written?

Darrell: “Shelter” Kerry: “Better Days” Lora: What is your overall favorite music style?

Both: Darrell and Kerry like the Americana style of music Lora: Do you have another job?

Kerry: A system administrator Darrell: Full-time stay at home daddy Lora: What are three things you cannot live without?

Darrell: Guitar, Bible, and phone Kerry: My Gibson, phone, and cheese Lora: What are the top songs on your play

list right now?

Darrell: Greg Allman’s solo record, “These Days” and “Midnight Rider,” Goldfrapp, Jack Pearson Kerry: The Killers, Imagine Dragons.

Lora: If you could open for anyone who would it be?

Kerry: Willie Nelson, Alabama Shakes These two talented musicians keep themselves busy. Kerry likes to run festivals by doing the sounds for various ones around Georgia. She also loves to garden when she has time. Darrell likes to work on guitars and find ways to modify them.

When I asked them if they had any advice for beginners in the music business this is what they had to say: “Patience and persistence. It takes a lot out of you to keep doing it especially as you get older and the performing spots are later and later.”

They would like to someday open a recording studio, something where they could even have a YouTube channel and broadcast live from the studio.

I have no doubt there is much more to come from these two and cannot wait to see what they achieve together next.

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” — Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

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A spring in their step Spring is in the air!

We are very excited about spring and all the new blooms and life buzzing all around.

That is why we have chosen to do a springthemed art project for this issue.

The kids are all running around naming off their ideas for the project, and I love seeing their faces light up as each idea enters their minds.

The kids that will be working on today’s project will be Draven, Kya, and Zoe. Tristan has decided he would rather help the smaller children with their supplies and ideas than to complete one of his own.

We have decided to do a canvas painting with a spring theme and will be using acrylic paints.

The only supplies needed are a canvas, acrylic paints in your spring colors, and a few different sizes of paint brushes.

You may want to put

down an old sheet or tablecloth on your table to protect it from paint spilling.

I love painting projects on canvas because you can make amazing art that can be easily displayed with minimal amounts of supplies and money. The kids love to make these because it makes them feel more grown up and more like a real artist.

The kids have come together and discussed their ideas, and all of them want to make a spring outdoorthemed painting complete with blooming beauties.

They begin to paint the background of their project painting the top portion of their paintings blue for

By LORA BUNCH

34

“A kind and compassionate act is often its own reward.” —William John Bennett (1943)

the sky and the bottom part green for the grass outside.

The background needs to dry before continuing so I use a trick I learned from fellow artists and take my hair dryer to blow dry the painted canvases so that the kids can add the next steps.

Draven decides that a spring painting would need some trees that have blooms on them so he proceeds to add in the tree with his favorite color blooms.

Zoe wants birds flying around on her painting so they can sing a spring song. She works contently making sure she adds many details to each bird.

Kya says that in spring the wind blows seeds around everywhere to make new plants and flowers grow so she adds seeds to the ground onto her painting.

Tristan walks around helping them get their brushes and showing them techniques for painting edges and corners.

I always enjoy listening to the ideas the kids have and then watching them bring them to life.

They surprise me in so many ways with how intelligent they are and all the information they have to share with each other about the various subjects our art projects cover each time.

They are truly amazing and talented, and I hope that the art classes and projects I do with them helps to encourage and support their talents and intelligence in the arts and beyond.

When everyone has completed their paintings, we talk a little about each one of them letting the kids tell the story behind their work and then they are all eager to have their pictures taken with their art.

This is always a highlight to the end of a project because you can see the light in their faces beaming with pride in their accomplishments.

I highly recommend that everyone do a canvas painting with their child at least once and watch the creative process.

They are easy to hang in your home as a forever reminder of the time spent together and memories made while creating something unique

“We rise by lifting others.� - Robert Ingersoll

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TOM PETTY This Calhoun Police Department veteran makes beautifully arresting music in his off time

Tom Petty has yet to meet a guitar that didn’t catch his fancy. Which could explain, at least in part, why he owns more than a dozen different versions of the popular stringed instrument.

He even has one banjo that he bought more than 30 years ago and took apart. He still has the banjo, and it’s still in pieces.

“I can’t figure out how to put it back together,” he says.

“I pick up a guitar every day,” he explains, even as his fingers quietly move almost subconsciously over the strings of the instrument he’s holding. As he talks, it’s quickly apparent that the guitar is as much a part of him as would be either of his arms.

“I play it, I caress it. Maybe I’m just playing scales, finding a new way to play songs I’ve known for years, or learning a new song.”

There’s even a guitar standing in his office at the Calhoun Police Department precinct located south of the city, within sight of Tom B. David Airport. That’s because Tom works his day job as a cop.

So does that make Tom Petty a law enforcement musician or a musical cop?

The jury is still out on that question.

For certain, this multifaceted, multi-talented man from Fairmount, Georgia not only does two entirely different jobs well, he actually manages to blur the lines, allowing the skills and responsibilities to mesh.

He shines regardless of which hat he’s wearing. Tom is deeply involved in a love affair with his instruments, and it’s obvious to all who

By JOHN SHIVERS

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“Be the reason someone smiles today.” - Unknown

Listen to a beautiful duet by Tom Petty and his wife, Renae, on our Facebook page - https://www.facebook. com/The-Best-of-the-North-GeorgiaMountains-443001642401862/

meet the man.

At Bethesda Baptist Church in the Red Bud community, where he and wife, Renae, are active members, he’s known more for his music than he is for his police work.

Tom first learned to play guitar when he was 15 years old. His dad, who was a part-time guitar picker himself, taught his son to play chords G, C and D, and told him, “If you can play these three chords, you can play anything.”

For the most part, Tom has found those words both prophetic and accurate. Except for about an 18-month period several years back, when he learned finger style playing using the finger tips instead of the usual flat pick, he remains primarily self-taught.

Only thing is, to listen to him, you’d never pick up on his “home schooled” musical education pedigree.

His interest in police work actually began about the same time he learned those three basic guitar chords.

His dad had done security work, and two uncles worked for metro Atlanta police agencies. But it wasn’t until he was in the military that the first big marriage of music and law-keeping occurred.

And while he didn’t know it at the time, the die was cast and a life-long love affair with making stringed music was established.

It happened this way. Tom was assigned to an MP post on the East / West Germany border, and arrived there knowing no one.

Another soldier, who was about to complete his tour and return stateside, had an old Yamaha guitar he didn’t have room to carry. Tom paid $75 and bought himself an immediate friend.

He still has that guitar.

The music he makes with his hands and his head, his heart, and whatever instrument he happens to be fingering at the time, pays many dividends.

When people encounter a guitar-playing cop, it usually works to Tom’s advantage. Whether it’s someone he’s interrogating as part of his job

A guitar and hammered dulcimer duet featuring Tom and Renae.

A close up of Tom’s wife Renae’s hands playing the hammered dulcimer.

with the Criminal Investigation Division, or one of the inmates that cleans the precinct office, the guitar seems to be the great equalizer.

It breaks down barriers and creates a topic for non-threatening conversation. Whether it’s a one-on-one interaction, or if he’s speaking to

a group, the instrument becomes both an emotional safety barrier, as well as a tool that connects him with his audience.

“The guitar takes the focus off the fear,” he says.

“Music is what gets me through,” Tom explains. “It’s a great stress reliever.”

Tom’s other police job, and the one that occupies the bulk of his time, is as a certified law enforcement instructor.

In addition to teaching classes – defensive tactics, emergency medicine, firearms training, among others – to his fellow officers, he also teaches at the law enforcement academy at Georgia Northwestern Technical College.

And woven in among all these responsibilities, he also conducts occasional training sessions for community groups and organizations. When appropriate, Tom’s guitars become part of the presentations.

But the music doesn’t stop there.

When he first learned those three guitar chords as a teenager, Tom fancied himself playing old Southern rock ‘n’ roll, echoing the style made popular by the band Lynyrd Skynyrd.

“I thought it would be a great way to pick up girls,” he offers with a laugh.

Ironically, there was a musical

connection Even when Tom’s between working, at least Tom and one guitar is Renae within easy reach. when they met, even though his plans to style himself after Lynyrd Skynyrd had long since fallen by the wayside.

She grew up near him in the Red Bud area and graduated from Red Bud High School. Today, she teaches Pre-K in the Fairmount School, not far from the cozy cottage where the newlyweds, who celebrated 20 years of marriage last November, live today, always making their beautiful music together.

Tom has been a POST certified officer in Georgia since 1984 and confesses that as much as he enjoys his various job responsibilities, he’s also beginning to think about retirement within the next 10 years.

When asked how he’ll fill that retirement time, he’s quick to assure that music will still be a constant and passionate part of that life.

While he doesn’t sing, and only plays guitars, Renae is a vocalist and plays a number of stringed instruments, including several Appalachian-rooted dulcimers and the auto harp, the bowed psalter, and the flute-like penny whistle or tin whistle, among others.

Tom counts on his fingers, as he and his wife list the different instru-

ments. Like her husband, Renae grew up in a family where music was present.

Her father called his guitar playing “ping-pong,” and her mother’s favorite artist was the late John Denver. Like Tom, Renae is pretty much a self-taught musical artist.

Music has been a constant in their lives since they married, after being “fixed up” by a well-meaning Cupid, who is still a good friend.

It was on a first anniversary trip to the Pigeon Forge / Gatlinburg area, where they initially met the hammered dulcimer. It was a small music shop that drew them in.

Tom was checking out the guitars while Renae discovered the dulcimer and began to take a demonstration. Bottom line: they purchased the instrument and the stand necessary to support it, and lugged it back on foot to their motel room.

The remainder of their celebration weekend was spent learning to play that dulcimer, and figuring out how to pair Tom’s guitar with Renae’s new instrument.

Music is just a normal, daily, ordinary part of what they do. One of their indulgences is the RV they bought to get away and to take trips.

When they travel, they’re never without the means to make music.

Renae recalls one trip to DeSoto Falls, Alabama, where they camped for several days in the RV. On one of their days there, the weather was pleasant and they brought their instruments outside.

As they began to make their beautiful music, others in the campground began to gather. Before it was over, their impromptu concert had attracted a couple of dozen audience members.

But they also play closer to home.

The church family at Bethesda Baptist is frequently entertained and ministered to by the couple.

The first Sunday evening each December finds Tom and Renae and five or six other individuals – known as “Strings of Majesty” – playing and presenting their annual concert to usher in the Christmas season.

Tom teaches Vacation Bible School each year and has taught the rudimentary aspects of plunking the strings to all ages. When invited, the musical duo also performs at other churches and at community events.

On his job today, Tom operates out of a no-frills office near the back of the building, and the trappings of his job – instructional materials and props – are prominent in the room. Adjacent is the informal classroom where he trains members of the Calhoun Police Department.

In the corner of the office, one of his guitars rests on its stand, waiting for him to pick it up and let it perform.

And when someone asks if they can hold or play the guitar, he usually grants their request. On his computer monitor, the image of a Fender guitar serves as a screen saver.

“It’s the best job ever,” he concedes, but also chuckles when he remembers being dragged, almost kicking and screaming, to become a certified instructor.

At the time, he worked for a small, three-person police force in another county. He was the newest kid on the block, so when the chief tapped him to go to school to become certified, he protested.

“I was about the only one he could recommend,” Tom explains.

“But I guess he saw something in me that I couldn’t see.”

Today Sergeant Tom Petty is passionate about his job.

And that passion carries over into his home, where he and Renae often spend evenings playing music. It’s also a vital part of Tom’s life, and the sparks that pass

between them as they each coax hauntingly beautiful melodies from their fingers and their instruments, is clearly seen.

While both enjoy playing the old hymns of the church, they also play many contemporary pieces of Christian music, as well as secular music.

One of the songs that Tom loves to play is “Give Me That Old Time Religion,” which was one of the main musical numbers in “Sergeant York,” the 1941 movie that told the story of Tennessee World War I hero Alvin York.

Tom and Renae have traveled to the state park named for York, and he was able to play that hymn outside the church used in the movie, which was a special moment for him.

Both Tom and Renae have been blessed with the God-given ability to pick up an instrument, tinker and play. It is a gift that neither takes lightly.

Renae adds that the music they make causes her to feel mellow.

With him on the guitar and her on the bower psalter, the two present an impromptu duet of a hauntingly beautiful piece entitled “Wayfaring Stranger.”

As their fingers create the notes that co-mingle to form the melody of this old folk song, it’s obvious their two hearts are entwined as well.

Less obvious, but definitely there, are the subtle, silent, almost indecipherable body language communications that pass between them.

The question of whether he’s a musical cop or a law enforcement musician remains hanging out there. But at the end of the day, it’s really not important.

Tom Petty is just Tom Petty.

Whether he’s teaching a class for police officers or sitting around home with a guitar on his lap, either way, he’s making beautiful music.

My heart never left the mountains

As a child born from many generations of the Appalachian Mountains, I have never gone very far.

Oh, I don’t mean geographically. I have traveled – up to Denver, out to the coast of California - I’ve been in many states.

I lived away from my hometown for about four years.

But my heart?

It never left.

When I was a child, I felt as though this was the center of the universe, and people came and went from it.

I have cousins whose parents chose to leave for different reasons, and they would come here only for visits.

They’ve told me as adults that they were jealous of me! I was astonished at this revelation. They were the ones who lived in lands that provided them magical things like “Girl Scouts” and “kindergarten.” Things they lived, things I saw only on my television screen, never having it available to me in this tiny tucked up mountain town.

But they saw the real magic – the magic of these mountains.

The place where our people had lived for generations, where things had hardly changed, where our grandparents lived and loved especially me, my cousins claimed.

Even my cousin who is like a sister to me says it’s true. But she never was jealous, saying how could it be any other way? I was with them always, the rest of them, only visitors.

Through my eyes I saw the eager anticipation of their arrival, the special cooking and cleaning before and during their stay. I was never jealous of this, but felt a part of the preparation.

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Visiting with relatives never goes out of style.

And perhaps that’s what they saw: us and them.

Until the late ’60s, this town made very slow progress, and then only in the form of electricity and indoor plumbing. There were no chain stores, no new people moving in, no new highways and easy access.

So when cousins visited, things were always the same to them.

Perhaps they dreamed of that kind of life where things were slow and comfortable and familiar - never changing, as their own lives did quite often.

In recent years, we have grown closer. They have visited as adults, and older adults at that. We have all had hardships with life, including health. We have reminisced some, revealed family secrets, and tried to piece together the puzzle of what made our parents, who were siblings, the adults they turned out to be.

Some of the older cousins have passed away. And now, one of the cousins, a contemporary, has received a very bad diagnosis and her two sisters are rallying ‘round her, making her last few months as good as possible.

“You have never really lived until you have done something for someone who can never pay you.” - Unknown

The author and her cousin enjoy a stroll under a canopy of trees.

They live far away. I cannot visit, or help out. All I can do is pray and keep in touch. And remember how it was when we were young.

Memories like too many bodies in a small bed, trying to make do and not complain, because we had all begged to spend the night at our grandparents’.

Memories of new babies coming into the family. Memories of games played at dusk in the yard till it got too dark to see. Memories of having spats that were forgotten the next day.

Memories of anticipation that they were arriving and sadness when

they left.

They left far too often.

Some of us will still be alive 20 years from now, elderly and perhaps no longer able to visit.

Maybe some will come back here and live out their last few years who knows?

My cousin, who has such a short time left, longs to visit this place just once more, so badly, her sister says, “It hurts.”

How I wish it could be. Just one more time.

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” - Winston Churchill

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Jolly Roger puts a smile on your face every time Huge portions, friendly atmosphere, delicious seafood a winning combo!

There is a special feeling when you walk into a small family-run restaurant. Everyone working is happy to be there, and they are happy to have you there. It is relaxing and comforting. The experience carries through to what you are eating, and the people sitting next to you.

With less than 10 tables, a staff of close friends (some relatives), eating at the Jolly Roger Restaurant is like having a great big meal Story by Thia Newman your cousins Photos by Robb Newman withOwner Jamie Boyle has been in love with seafood for his whole life. His dad had a fish restaurant in the ’70s, and his brother had one later on in Blue Ridge.

After running the meat and seafood department in grocery stores for 20 years, Jamie decided he would finally open his own seafood restaurant. It was difficult the first From upper right clockwise, owners Jamie and Melanie Boyle, fresh lobster, Krystal serves up our delicious food, a basket of fresh fried clams, and Rusty delivers Thia’s lobster.

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“Kindness come in many forms but always from the heart.” - Unknown

few years, with money tight and 18-hour Amanda said, “The stuffed crab is so good.”

And it looked really good. They were enjoying days.

But now, after being open for 20 years their dinner and their time together, and it was so this May, Jolly Roger runs like a well-oiled nice to meet them! machine.

As a matter of fact, we met every person at The staff members at JR’s have all every table while we were there. Rusty was nice been there for several years, and some enough to bring us a huge basket of clam strips. for more than a decade. The general They hand cut the fresh clams, bread them and manager, Rusty, started there as a dishfry them. I never ate clams before, but I tried washer when he was 14 years old - that these and they were delicious! was 16 years ago now. Bart is a cook with Seeing as we had a huge dinner coming, no 10 years under his belt. Krystal and Tai, way we could eat them all. So I took the basket servers, have been there five years and around to the other tables and shared them. Evthree years, respectively. eryone in the place loved them! Thanks, Rusty!

And on really busy days, Jamie pulls I have eaten at Jolly Roger’s many times, and a long day, staying from early mornevery time, it has been wonderful. Sometimes The Chadwick family enjoys their food. they have my favorite food in the whole world, ing through the dinner shift, and his wife which is Maine lobster, and this visit was one of Melanie jumps in to help, too. those times. ( Thanks, Jamie and Melanie!)

Sitting near us was the Chadwick family. We struck up a conversaMy big boy was alive in the case, and Rusty pulled him out for Robb tion with these nice people. Tim, Amanda and their daughter, Carly, love the food at Jolly Roger. “This is one of the best ribeye steaks I’ve ever to take a look at. I preferred to cover my eyes! My thought being, if I saw eaten,” Tim praised. him alive, I might not be able to eat him.

You don’t expect a seafood restaurant to have great steak, but JR’s We ordered the delicious fried coconut shrimp for our appetizer. They does! It looked delicious. come out fresh and hot and big with a sweet dipping sauce. Next came

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“The highest form of wisdom is kindness.” - The Talmud

our dinners, and they were served literally 20 minutes after we ordered them.

It must take at least 15 minutes just to steam the lobster, but these guys are fast! As Tai likes to say, “we don’t serve fast food, we serve fresh food!” I want to add “fast” to the end of that sentence!

My lobster came with fluffy red potatoes and corn on the cob, along with a couple hush puppies.

Lobster is usually a hard thing to eat because it is so messy, but at Jolly Roger’s, they make it much easier! The tail is split and opened for you, and the claws are cracked. I literally had to use the shell crackers for one little part; the rest just came right out with my fork.

My dad, Griz, is the fish expert around our house, and he wasn’t with us this trip, but on the previous Take home some great fresh seafood and cook it visits, he loved his meals. He also loves the fact that yourself if you’re so inclined. he could buy a beer next door at the convenience store and bring it in to the restaurant to drink. gems that blow their minds (and taste buds) away?

Robb adds his thoughts -If I had a tail it would’ve As you sit there by the TV wishing it was “Smellbeen wagging when Thia told me we were going to O-vision” you’re instantly starving and all you have Jolly Roger’s. I love Jolly Roger’s. Ever watch those in the house is peanut butter and stale Ritz crackers. shows on the Food Channel, where they travel the Well, Jolly Roger’s is one of those places. I’m not world and discover these tiny places, little hidden even what you would call a “fish lover,” but the fried

“Do one act of kindness each day of the year and change 365 lives.” - Anthony Douglas Williams

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fish I’ve had here is stupendous.

Being that I AM a shrimp lover, most times I will go for that. Hands down, best shrimp dishes I have had anywhere ever. Excellently prepared and none of that strange “iodiney” or “bleachy” taste that in so many places ruins the meal for me.

And as a food lover, I love big portions, yet another reason I love Jolly Roger’s - the meal is a MEAL. This time I couldn’t shoe horn in dessert if I tried. Even the sides were fantastic. The corn was real corn, a full ear of fresh, delicious sweet corn, at this time of year, the beginning of March? Where does Jamie get such delicious corn from this time of year?

I don’t want this to sound like an over-thetop sales job, but I can’t help it, it IS that good. Hushpuppies, great. The steamed potatoes were sooo good. Uh oh. I guess I’ll have to go to the pantry and dig into the peanut butter and Ritz crackers, I’ve made myself hungry.

Thia’s back- If you’d like to make your own delicious fresh dinner, stop in and pick out your seafood to take home. I buy shrimp there all the time. Surprisingly, the price is about the same as the grocery store. So if you are used to buying a bag of frozen shrimp, go get some fresh shrimp

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Robb says his fried shrimp dinner is “hands down, best shrimp dishes I had had anywhere ever.”

Below is the coconut shrimp appetizer that we shared with others at the Jolly Roger.

“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. - Dali Lama

at Jolly Roger’s!

Service is the best you’ll have anywhere.

Friendly, fast, knowledgeable and attentive.

Drinks refilled before you ask. Food brought out with perfect timing. A happy place to go, a wonderful place to eat, a fun place to chat.

As Tai says: “If people aren’t in a good mood when they get here, they will be by the time they leave!”

She is so right. You just can’t be anything but Jolly when you eat at Jolly Roger’s! Hey, maybe that’s why they named it that!

Jolly Roger’s is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday for lunch 11 a.m. - 2:30 p.m., and dinner 4 p.m. until 8. There is sometimes a line, but it is worth the wait! Prices and seafood available, fluctuate with the market. Call if you are looking for a special item. (706) 276-2090, 716 Industrial Blvd, Ellijay, GA 30540. Very responsive Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/JollyRogerEllijayGA Two Thumbs Up for sure! ( Maybe I should say Two Claws Up!)

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.” - Mother Teresa

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WELLNESS SPOTLIGHT

Have your kids tried YOGA? This issue’s spotlight on wellness is on a subject very near and dear to my heart. Kid’s yoga is amazing and growing quickly all around the world.

Its popularity has reached such heights that April 7 has been named as International Kids Yoga Day, and ambassadors around the world in many countries teach kids yoga events in unity this day.

In America there are ambassadors from each of the 50 states. This event was started last year, and 2017 will be year two. I am proud to say that I served as an ambassador last year and have been chosen to do the same again this year.

I am truly honored to be part of the movement to promote and encourage children to learn yoga and implement it into their growth both physically and mentally.

Yoga for kids is taught much differently than adult yoga.

Children are taught breathing, relaxation, stress management, conflict resolution, and of course yoga poses through games, stories, music and more.

It is a good balance between activity and learning to calm themselves and focus. The best part is that they are having so much fun learning all of this through a more play-like routine that they do not view it as work or learning. This keeps them interested and eager to come back for more.

The stories can be published books or made up stories that the instructor creates. I like to involve the children and let them help write the stories at times. This helps them feel more involved and also is good

By LORA BUNCH

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“Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” - Mark Twain

for team building skills.

We use equipment such as parachutes to help with breathing timing and for a game we invented to showcase our favorite poses by taking turns going under the parachute to demonstrate.

We have stability balls that we use for balance training as well as fitness. Our newest equipment we have added is a couple different size balance beams and some small balance stilts for kids.

I am continuously furthering my education and overall knowledge of kid’s yoga as it continues to grow so we can continue to make adjustments and additions to our classes. We have a lot of fun using our equipment as well as learning to use our bodies and minds.

Children who struggle with attention disorders as well as children who appear on the spectrum benefit greatly from kid’s yoga. Many therapists and pediatricians are beginning to recommend to their patients the benefits of yoga.

It teaches children how to calm themselves and bring themselves into a place where they can focus.

This is beneficial to them in many areas of their lives from home to school.

It also is a wonderful life skill they can carry on into their adult lives. I strive to create a safe and loving environment where children can express themselves and know that it is not only ok to be whom they are but it is absolutely the best and only way to be.

I have been teaching kids yoga for about two years now, and most days I feel like I learn just as much from them as they do me.

Another great thing I have witnessed is how much they learn from each other and encourage and support each other.

I have found a wonderful home base for classes that is very inviting and allows the space and equipment needed to make sure we are offering the best for our students. I am teaching at Zoo-Ology Zen Zone in Tate, Georgia on Saturday mornings for ages 4-12 years.

If you are interested in knowing more please call or message me on Facebook under the ZooOlogy Zen Zone page, Lora Bunch Wellness Professional Page, or by phone at 770-894-3308.

“How far that little candle throws his beams! / So shines a good deed in a weary world.” - William Shakespeare

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MOTHERLY MIRACLES

Readers, let me tell you, Southern women are it seemed like my joints were no longer connected. strong. They usually get exactly what they want and About a year later, with the help of a brace, I learned smile while doing it. to walk again.

My mother, Louise Colwell Patterson, was nickMother never stopped her treatments until I was named Weezer. I never knew why her family called able to walk without the brace or help of any kind. Afher that, but it was obvious she really liked it. ter that, when a neighbor or friend would see me, they Anyone who knew her would agree she was one would smile and say, “Weezer, it’s a miracle. That boy of those people who never met a stranger and she doesn’t even have a limp.” liked being a mother. We called her mother beI now remember that many of my classmates at cause she insisted on it. She refused to let any of school who had the disease were walking with either us call her mom or momma. a brace or crutches. I always felt guilty that they didn’t After I was grown and in the Army, I once asked have one of my mother’s miracles. her why. She laughed and said she always felt She would be a mother to anyone who would let her momma made her sound old like her parents. I’m and was always taking on projects to help people and not sure that was the real reason, but who am I to expected us kids to help her. That applied no matter question her? where we happened to be, even when I was far away My Aunt Juanita was babysitting me a couple from home. of months before my third birthday. She told me She seemed to keep track of all the young people I fell when I was running from the kitchen to the in Fannin County, and she would call me when one of Mother and my brother Chuck living room. When she picked me up, she noticed I our neighbors was within a 100-mile radius of whercouldn’t use my left leg. ever I was stationed.

When my parents came home, they took me to the doctor and were I remember once she called me in Ft. Hood, Texas just after I’d devastated when he told them I had infantile paralysis, or polio. made major and taken command of A Company, 227th Aviation BatThe following year was hard on my mother. My sister, Patsy, was talion. As soon as she found out I was doing okay, she said, “Gerald just a baby at that time, so now she had two babies to care for with no Farmer (one of our neighbors) has been assigned to Ft. Hood.” help. I never found out how my mother learned about Sister Kenny’s She went on to insist I should find him and take care of him while (a nurse in Australia) treatment for polio, but several times a day he was there. Mother had no clue of the difference between military mother would lay strips of hot, moist cloths on my left leg. ranks, and frankly, she didn’t care. She had just given me my marchThe heat would relieve the pain, and I would stop crying. Then ing orders. she would begin to exercise the joints of my leg. She once told me The next week I did as I had been told. PFC Farmer’s unit motor

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“Do a deed of simple kindness; though its end you may not see, it may reach, like widening ripples, down a long eternity.” - Joseph Norris

pool was about 200 yards down the street, located in some of the old WWII barrack buildings.

I should probably point out, majors don’t usually visit the motor pool because it drives the young sergeants crazy trying to figure out why they’re there.

When I approached Farmer’s platoon sergeant and asked for him, he assured me he was there and would go get him. At least 20 minutes later, he came back red faced, but told me he’d finally located Farmer.

When Gerald arrived, it was obvious he’d been chewed out before reporting to me. He came to a rigid attention, and saluted. I returned the salute and said, “Gerald, don’t you recognize me?”

He stared for a few minutes and then said, “No, sir.” I told him who I was, and he immediately went at ease. I did as mother instructed. I took care of him for the few months he was there before he was sent to Germany.

I tell you that story so you will understand the next mission. When I was attending Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, I came home for the Christmas holidays. When mother found out I’d be driving back through St. Louis, Missouri, she gave me new instructions. My cousin, Evon, just happened to live in St. Louis. Mother made it clear to me I was to stop and visit Evon on my way home.

Like a good soldier, I obeyed orders, never asking why. On the drive back to Leavenworth, as I was crossing into Illinois, I noticed a big truck stop on the side of the freeway. I still remember the only thing on the sign was “EAT.” As I parked, another vehicle pulled up beside me. I looked over and noticed the woman in the rear seat who looked just like my Aunt Stella. When I walked up to the car, a man got out of the driver’s seat and asked if he could help me.

I didn’t recognize him and felt kind of foolish, but pointed at the woman and said, “She looks just like my Aunt Stella.” Seeing me, the woman jumped out of the car and hugged my neck. Believe it or not, Evon was sitting in the front seat and jumped out of the car as well.

We decided to eat lunch together, and as we talked I told them the instructions I’d received from mother. They began to laugh.

When I asked what was so funny, Evon answered, “We are on our way to Blue Ridge. I wouldn’t have been at home when you got there.”

On the rest of my drive back to Leavenworth, I shook my head realizing I had just experienced yet another of my mother’s little miracles.

The Garden Club of Ellijay is holding its annual plant sale on Saturday, May 20 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Lions Club Pavilion, 1729 S. Main St., Ellijay.

KENTUCKY DERBY PARTY BENEFIT FOR SAFE MAY 6 Kentucky Derby Party Benefit for SAFE will be held May 6 from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at the Union County Community Center. Watch the race, hat contests, raffles, dinner, cash bar, silent auction. $40 per person/$70 couple. Call 706-379-1901to purchase your tickets. SAFE is Support In Abusive Family Emergencies (www.safeservices.org), which provides a shelter for women to be able to leave abusive situations - house 18 women and children, and are full 80 percent of the time. They also provide supervised visitation for families who have had their kids removed, forensic interviews where there is suspected abuse, legal advocacy and much more. Totally funded by government grants and private donations (501C3). This Derby Party is their major fundraising event for the year.

“You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

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By TED SMITH

Remembering Ed Weeks You are alive so long as someone remembers you, and so today I remember Ed Weeks.

Ed was an old man who used to walk the streets of Athens. He was known as the “sandwich board man.” He made his living carrying two large chalkboards on which for a fee he wrote the daily specials of restaurants downtown. He had a certain flair about him and had a way of making you feel that what you were saying was important to him. He bought all his clothes at Goodwill and they were typically some of the more outrageous jackets and pants and shirts. He was also quite a charmer and enjoyed teasing the coeds at the restaurants.

And most importantly he was kind.

But like several people I’ve known, Ed’s life was in a death spiral. He was an alcoholic and it was ravaging his body. He once told me that the nerves in his legs were shot, which caused him pain, and it took him quite a while to get out of bed every day.

I felt drawn to him somehow. I asked him one day if he would like to come out to my house on Sunday and eat dinner with me and my children.

He agreed, and so for several weeks he dined with us. But one day when I went to pick him up – he was living in a room above the old 40 Watt club – he was drunk. I told him that I couldn’t allow him to be around my children drunk. The next Sunday when I went to pick him up he was gone.

I was told that he had gone to Florida (I think) to live with relatives. I didn’t think any more of it until I found out two weeks later that he had returned to Athens and then been found dead. He was drunk and fell down the stairs that led up to his room.

I had a cousin who in his old age became homeless. His daughters tried to save him but he could not stand to live indoors after having been on the street so long. He eventually died in a hospice .I had a sister-in-law who was married and had two children but her life went off the rails. She became addicted to a series of drugs, ending in heroin and wound up living under a bridge in old age. She once said that she would love to give up her addiction for her children but she could not.

Life they say is like a stream, and I think of people like this as caught in an eddy somewhere along the bank. I’m not sure that anything can be done to save them, quite frankly ,because the older you get the harder it is to change. In any case, life has value. Ed’s did, if for nothing more than the memory of an old man sitting on his bed in a dimly lit old bedroom, or dressed in outrageous clothing doing a little soft shoe to the delight of some young coeds, or presenting the guts of a music box and a beat up bugle to my kids for Christmas presents.

I do not know the totality of his life. Maybe no one does. But for those memories alone he is alive in me.

“Share a smile. Be kind. Pass it on.” - www.spreadkindness.org

Spreading a little kindness

By Kathi Chastain

“Kindness in words creates confidence.

Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.

Kindness in giving creates love.” - Lao Tzu Every day brings opportunities for kindness. It is very evident that our world needs a change, and I believe kindness is the key.

The world we live in needs kindness, in large quantities. The people and creatures in the world need kindness. We as groups, families, and most importantly individuals need kindness.

Kindness can and will change the world for the better. An individual that shows kindness can change the world, starting with themselves and potentially reaching to the far realms of the universe, or even the galaxy.

Oftentimes, we look outside ourselves for what needs to change. I propose that the very first place we need to start infusing kindness… is with ourselves.

Society has been allowed to take the lead on saying what has priority in our lives, and we tend to judge everything about ourselves by society’s measuring stick.

So depending on your society (or sub-society, such as school, church, friends or physical location) can determine how you feel about certain topics, foods, clothing (or the lack of), hairstyles, weather, and personal attributes.

Long hair is treasured in some societies, prohibited in others; how one is treated regarding mistakes is another area of differences. If you were taught that it is acceptable to make mistakes, you likely look at them as learning opportunities; if you were taught that you must avoid mistakes at all costs, as they are inherently “bad,” you likely look at them as failures never to be overcome or accepted.

It is the things we tend to judge ourselves on that tend to need the most kindness, mostly from ourselves. Most humans are willing to forgive others, yet never consider forgiving themselves. This can create an amazing amount of disdain and hostility that creeps into judgment of others in our daily lives.

We start going around looking to bring attention to the “wrongdoings” of others to protect ourselves from the self-judgment we have placed upon our own situation. This is easier to see if you aren’t involved in it, as those involved in it tend to be unable to see the forest for the trees.

The willingness to forgive others can still exist, and even thrive as we are our worst critics and refuse to let ourselves “off the hook,” whilst simultaneously giving the benefit of the doubt to others, along with a large dose of patience and forgiveness.

If you talk with many abuse victims, it stands true in many populations. We stand ready to extend forgiveness and bypass judgments for others whilst holding onto the gauntlet regarding our internal experiences.

Kindness must begin within ourselves, for ourselves and we must cease to buy into the judgment and values placed on us by society, media and the status quo.

If we can look at ourselves and treat ourselves with unconditional positive regard, we will be able to look at who we are, what we have been through, and even where we are going, through kind, accepting eyes and create an atmosphere of growth.

That in turn will do two things – allow us to grow personally and affect others with our growth, and at the same time, be more kind to others.

When you treat yourself with kindness, it sends an amazingly bright light through the darkness to others, who then in turn can be kind to themselves also, which will inspire kindness to others.

Before you know it, kindness will be so abundant, it will become the new “norm” and supersede other judgments.

People will give each other the benefit of the doubt seeing with unconditional positive regard, and perhaps, offer kindness in all situations that will multiply throughout the world.

Instead of assuming the worst, we will look with kindness and perhaps even offer aid. (Reminds me of the quote – “You’ve been being hard on yourself for years, try being kind and see what happens.”)

We all are seeking the same thing…to be accepted and loved.

Start with yourself, and see how easy it is to then be kind to others. Grateful for kindness and the opportunities it brings, for myself, those around me, and the world….till next time!

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” - Plato

“Today I will do a Random Act Of Kindness.” - You

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Bulletin Board

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Happy Easter from the staff at The Best of the North Georgia Mountains, your FunPaper!