A Story from the Porch

 A story from the Porch.....🍑

I love old stories from the past and I have decided that once a week, I am going to be posting a Porch Story!  I want these stories to be in my blog book for my grandkids and great grandkids to read about some day.  

This weeks story is about my paternal Grandmother...."Ma Bertha"

I hope you all enjoy... 

"A Peach Limb and A Whole Lot of Love."

Growing up, we (grandkids, siblings, cousins) didn't need time-outs or long talks about our behavior.

We had my grandmother.....  "Ma Bertha."

If we were cutting up or acting like we didn't have good sense, she didn't go searching for a solution....she would look right at us and say:

 "Go out there and cut me a peach limb."   There were many times I wished the old peach trees would disappear!!

Let me tell you....that walk to the yard would change your whole attitude real quick.  We knew what was coming and because I knew what it was, I would always take baby steps out to the peach tree and back.  

The funny thing is, you didn't dare come back with a tiny limb.  If you did, she would send you right back out there to get a limb that "meant business."   You know what I mean?

Usually it wasn't just one of us, but  the whole crew that would end up getting a couple of licks with that peach limb. 

Not out of anger...Not out of meanness...But out of a kind of love that believed you needed to be set straight before the world tried to do it for you.  

Looking back, I know that it wasn't about the switch itself.  It was about respect and about learning right from wrong. It was about knowing somebody loved you enough not to let you be undisciplined. 

These lessons have stayed with me a whole lot longer than any kind of "gentle reminder" ever would have.  

 If any of us got caught laughing because someone got an extra lick, then this was not a happy moment for any of us.  We would all end up getting another lick and it was not comfortable.  

Do I have any scars from those old peach limbs?  No...not a single one.

What I do have is a bundle of memories tied up with deep East Texas roots, front porch lessons, and a grandmother named Ma Bertha who believed children ought to know how to behave.  I say front porch lessons, because this is the very place where all the action would take place.  I'll never, ever forget that Front Porch...

Those peach limbs didn't leave marks on my skin (well...maybe for about 15 min.)....but they sure left lessons in my heart.  I now remember how Grandparents helped shape who we became.  

Funny how life works!!!

The things that felt so big back then becomes stories that we laugh about now.  And the people we once feared disappointing becomes the very people we miss the most..  

My grandmother...Ma Bertha...was definitely the kind of grandmother that you rarely see these days.  She was old-fashioned to the core and strong-minded.  She was raised in a generation that believed in hard work, respect and telling things exactly like they were.  She didn't feel like we (grandkids) deserved to be entertained every minute of the day and she sure did not tolerate backtalk.  She loved us and she loved her peach trees!!  lol.

Believe me...I never see a peach tree that I don't think of her.  

Shug...💛