{"id":10489,"date":"2021-06-03T11:59:38","date_gmt":"2021-06-03T16:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/?p=10489"},"modified":"2021-06-03T09:45:57","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T14:45:57","slug":"miss-leonas-96th-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2021\/06\/03\/miss-leonas-96th-birthday\/","title":{"rendered":"Miss Leona\u2019s 96th Birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Harry Methvin, a teacher, was \u201cout junking,\u201d when he spied an old one-room schoolhouse.\u00a0 <\/span>Lady who lived next door, Miss Leona, had once been a student there.\u00a0 <\/span>They\u2019ve been friends ever since. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was 42, you were 62,\u201d he says. \u201cI thought you were an old woman back then.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s in his seventies now.\u00a0 <\/span>Today\u2019s occasion, Miss Leona turning 96.<\/p>\n

Ooo ee!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Harry has brought his nephew Vance, niece Angie, and me. He introduces us to Earnestine, Miss Leona\u2019s daughter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Angie has a cake, with two candles, a 9 and a 6. Harry brought over a hundred birthday cards, from former students, most have never met Miss Leona. He\u2019s that kind of guy, with that kind of effect.<\/p>\n

\u201cOoo ee!\u201d she says, when Harry piles the happy mail into her lap.<\/p>\n

Nary A Note<\/strong><\/p>\n

Humor is their mutual friend.\u00a0 <\/span>Miss Leona says. \u201cDoctor said I had one foot on a banana peel and the other foot in a grave.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>He teases her about watching wrestling.\u00a0 <\/span>She doesn\u2019t care. About a favorite wrestler, \u201cHe used to be good looking, but he plumb ugly now.\u201d But she likes Harry\u2019s shirt. \u201cThat\u2019s a pretty shirt.\u201d<\/p>\n

He teases back, \u201cYou got pretty good taste for a woman from the piney woods.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOoo eee!\u201d She loves his quick wit.<\/p>\n

Vance remarks about how rare it is, for a family to have five generations alive. She confides that what worked with her kids works with the newest batch too, \u201cI put dat look on \u2018em and they mind right away.\u201d<\/p>\n

She worked hard, her whole life. First job, $3 a day, at a \u201cchicken house.\u201d She was 37 when her husband died. There she was with seven kids. She picked up side jobs, like cleaning houses. Worked in the cafeteria at a school. She\u2019s proud that she paid off her house that way. \u201cI didn\u2019t get behind with nary a note. If you want something, get out and work for it,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She was careful with her money, but there\u2019s a red dress, somewhere, bought but never worn, once she realized that street walkers wore red dresses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In a life pushing a full century, how else could it be, but that she\u2019s known times of great burdens?\u00a0 <\/span>She never learned to drive. \u201cI had to take care of my momma.\u201d She was caretaker for mother and husband, at the same time. Later did the same for her stepfather. She bore the full load.<\/p>\n

The Courting Story<\/strong><\/p>\n

The occasion calls for light, and easy, so she glosses over the hard times of her life, everything said with a smile, and her delightful \u201cOooo eee\u201d sound.<\/p>\n

Her one vice was chewing Red Man, which she gave up a few years ago. \u201cNo mo\u2019 chewing fo\u2019 me!\u201d<\/p>\n

She and Harry joke about \u201ccow tea.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>Being gullible, I ask what it is.\u00a0 <\/span>Cow manure and water, season with pine needles, boil it, cures congestion. (They\u2019ve gotta be pulling my leg.)<\/p>\n

She\u2019s the only woman I\u2019ve ever known who refers to her husband as Mister. \u201cMister Lee was so good to me.\u201d He\u2019s been dead since the 1960\u2019s, but he\u2019s still Mister Lee. Bet that did some good, for her children, to hear their father spoken of with respect. Made me feel good.<\/p>\n

Harry loves their courting story, always asks the same question, \u201cWhy\u2019d you marry him?\u201d to which Miss Leona smiles and says, \u201cBecause I was kin to everybody else \u2018round here.\u201d He was a grown man, turning timber into railroad crossties with a broad axe. I bet his hands were man hands<\/p>\n

Just Keep On<\/strong><\/p>\n

I asked her about life advice.\u00a0 <\/span>First thing that came to her mind was, \u201cJust mind your own business.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>As for how she\u2019s lived to 96, to her it\u2019s simple, \u201cJust keep on going.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>Going towards, and going despite, just keep on going. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Aging fascinates me. I feel like I have lived several lives within one. Every decade I have the same label on the container, but what\u2019s inside is greatly changed.\u00a0 <\/span>The older I get, the humbler I get, grateful that God, America and Louisiana have put up with me this long.<\/p>\n

Life has layered me, some layers are rich, and deep, but some are mostly scar tissue. What are Miss Leona\u2019s layers? What has she seen, that I\u2019ll never see? What does she know, that I\u2019ll never know?<\/p>\n

2,909,000 babies were born in 1925.\u00a0 <\/span>How rare must be the view, to be one of the last still alive?<\/p>\n

Maybe her answer is in her smile. She said so many words, and not a one was a complaint. Happy talk, happy sounds, grabbing our little visit like it\u2019s the best thing since sliced bread, which means something, because at 96, she\u2019s older than sliced bread.<\/p>\n

Why some random meeting turned into decades of friendship, who is to know, but maybe it\u2019s because they both have a little rascal in themselves, comes out in their humor.<\/p>\n

Asked about his future old age, Harry says, \u201cI hope I can work until noon the day I die, have a good lunch, and the coroner\u2019s report identifies the cause of death as suffocation in banana pudding\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that on the car ride home. Miss Leona wasn\u2019t in the car with us, but I thought I heard that happy squeal of hers, \u201cOoo eee!\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s going to be a fine sound in heaven. But as she said when she blew out her two candles, \u201cAnd many more\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This edition of Uncle P\u2019s Bedtime Stories is dedicated to the wealth of old friends. It\u2019s also dedicated to her caregivers. God honors the giving.<\/i><\/p>\n

To reach Uncle P, or to order copies of his books, email eightyoneantiques@gmail.com.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harry Methvin, a teacher, was \u201cout junking,\u201d when he spied an old one-room schoolhouse.\u00a0 Lady who lived next door, Miss Leona, had once been a student there.\u00a0 They\u2019ve been friends ever since. \u00a0 \u201cI was 42, you were 62,\u201d he says. \u201cI thought you were an old woman back then.\u201d\u00a0 He\u2019s in his seventies now.\u00a0 [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":279,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[2456,59,894],"yoast_head":"\nMiss Leona\u2019s 96th Birthday - BestOfSwla<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2021\/06\/03\/miss-leonas-96th-birthday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Miss Leona\u2019s 96th Birthday - 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