Granddaddy

I have written several blog drafts recently, but haven't posted in a long time. We'll just say, sometimes life gets in the way. :) The last set of blogs I wrote were a way to memorialize some important ladies in my life so my kids would always know about them. I started time and time again to continue by adding other people, but something always held me back. I suppose now is as good a time as any.

The past few months have been hard. We found out we're expecting another sweet baby in May, I began battling some pretty severe morning sickness, and it seems person after person in our family has been in the hospital and a few have recently passed away. We've clung to Jesus every day for strength. He is getting us through like only He can with grace and love, but it's hard.

Yesterday morning, Granddaddy Doggett passed away. Though I've only known him for about ten years, he has definitely made a huge impact on my life, and I miss him already. We all do.

Herschel Doggett was a character. I loved him the moment I met him. In many respects, he was an older version of my husband. I can't tell you the number of times over the past ten years that Jeremy has said or done something, and I turned to him and said, "Ok, Herschel." He loved to banter back and forth with me. He loved cattle, John Deere tractors, Liberty overalls, socializing, and Jesus and had a work ethic like none other.

I really got to know Granddaddy one-on-one the summer after Jeremy and I married. Since I had quit my job to move to Middle TN, I was free labor in the hay field. The Doggett men were more than happy to teach me to drive a tractor if I was willing to help. Being a new bride eager to please my in-laws and prove myself, I jumped at the chance. There were many times when Granddaddy and I would get done with our jobs while Jeremy and Mickey were still bailing. I would join Granddaddy sitting in the shade in his old blue farm truck, and we would talk. We talked about all kinds of things. He would tell me all kinds of stories about Jeremy, the family and farming. He would crack jokes and answer all the questions I had....and I had alot! I really wanted to get to know this man who my husband loved and revered so highly. I remember one day, we were sitting in the shade and he mentioned something about being in Korea in the war. I listened to stories and asked questions. Later, on the way home, I mentioned it to Jeremy. He couldn't believe it. Granddaddy had never spoken to Jeremy about the war. Jeremy loves history, especially military history. He is very patriotic and would have loved to have talked to his granddad about it. However, since Herschel never brought it up, Jeremy was afraid to ask. I guess I didn't know any better because I wasn't scared, and I was full of questions. From then on, every chance I got I would ask him to tell me about Korea, and I would report it to Jeremy.

Eventually, I began asking when Jeremy was with us so he could hear his granddaddy talk about it. We found out he was a medic in the army. At some point, he negotiated a job as head of the motor pool. He talked about how they paid a Korean boy to steal butter for them so they could roast pheasant. He kept a pair of boots spotless and shined at all times. When they had bunk checks, he would pull out those boots he had ready. His commanding officer caught on, and tried to buy them from him, but he always got around it. He never spoke of being directly in combat. He did tell us that he was driving through the mountains alone one day, and he saw a Korean in the back of the truck through his mirror. Every time he slowed down, the man would try to sneak to the cab, and Granddaddy would speed up to knock him off balance. This happened for a ways before he finally got near where he was going and the man jumped out. That story terrified me. Of course, I asked if he was scared, and he just said, "No." He told me about the "GI gin" they gave soldiers for sickness and how officers would request extra when they didn't really need it. He never gave in to simply handing it out. He had strong feelings about drinking. (He let us know several times he never drank, and he felt it was a big waste of money.)

Granddaddy ALWAYS asked about my family. He loved my parents and brother. After my uncle and cousin visited one weekend to go hunting, they were often inquired about as well. He wanted to make sure everyone was doing well, and that they knew I was being taken care of down here. Jeremy would often joke that I was the favorite because farm work normally took precedence over everything else in life, but if we planned a trip back to Martin, Granddaddy would say, "Go! Don't worry about this stuff. Tell everybody we said, 'Hello.'"

It was widely known that in his smokehouse, Granddaddy had a refrigerator dedicated to cold drinks and candy bars. Everybody who stopped by to visit was expected to go to the smokehouse and get one. Every time I tried to be on a diet or cut out sugar, he found out and would say, "My candy is no calorie. Fat free. Get you one." Then, if he caught me getting in the car without one, he would yell out the door for me to go to the smokehouse!!! That man!! haha Not long after we were married, Granddaddy asked what my favorite candy bar was. (He normally kept an assortment that included what everybody liked.) I told him I loved Dove bars. Suddenly, there was a stash of Dove bars in the drawer that had never been there before.

It's not so widely known that Herschel Doggett refused to eat biscuits. We would kid him about this often. For breakfast, he loved toast with gravy, but he would not touch a biscuit. He loved whole catfish (NOT fillets!), fried chicken wings, shrimp boil, watermelon, ice cream and most importantly, taking his family out to eat. He always wanted us to go with him, and he made sure to look at your plate to see if you were eating enough!

Granddaddy had a little trick he loved to do. He could move his scalp and wiggle his ears. If he was wearing a hat, it would make the hat move back and forth. So many times when he would catch my eye, he would do it to watch me try to mimic him. Then, he would just laugh when I couldn't. He taught Jeremy to do it at an early age, and Maddie Claire is pretty good at it, too.

One day while asking Granddaddy all my questions, I asked his favorite dessert. (I knew he was a sucker for ice cream and chocolate.) I quickly found out he loved his mother's Blackberry Juice Pie. Grandmother had the recipe and gladly wrote it down for me to try. The first time I made it, it became Jeremy's favorite, too. I began to make 2 pies every so often so Granddaddy could have one and Jeremy could have the other. (Jeremy likes to have double the meringue on his.) For the past several years, I made one for Granddaddy's birthday. Leading up to his birthday, I'd always starting talking about how old he was going to be, and he would say, "I'm not having a birthday this year." But he NEVER turned down that pie...

One thing that amazed me about Hershel Doggett was his fearlessness when it came to working cows. He battled Graves' Disease, and it affected his vision. He would see double. He was also 79 when I met him! That man would get out of his blue truck with his cane or sorting stick and stand in a gap with cattle running toward him with no fear. I knew there was no way he could move fast enough to get out of the way if he had to, but he stood there EVERY time fearless. I saw him walk right through the middle of the herd of restless calves and never flinch. Personally, I'm always looking for a gate I can slip through, a fence I can climb or something I can hide behind just in case, but not that man!!

Granddaddy had a soft spot for Maddie Claire. (Big Granddaddy to her.) He told us from the day she was born he wasn't calling her "Maddie Claire." He was going to call her "MC," and he did. When she was 6 weeks old, he started asking when she could have her first Coke and candy bar! When I would tell him she couldn't have one for several years, he would wink at her and say, "You come see me, and we'll go to the smokehouse." Maddie Claire was almost 9 months old when Grandmother Doggett died. Though she was so young, she knew something was wrong. She clung to her daddy and would watch Big Granddaddy closely. She knew he was upset, but her little mind couldn't comprehend everything going on. For a couple of weeks, she didn't want to sit with Big Granddaddy when we went to visit, and that hurt his feelings. He didn't think she would ever like him again. We tried to tell him she was confused and didn't like that he was upset. As we predicted, it was a short phase, and they were soon big buddies again.

Maverick would start saying "Knock, knock!" as soon as we turned down Big Granddaddy's road. He knew even when his car seat was turned facing backward, and he couldn't see out the window! Once we pulled in, he couldn't get out of the van fast enough. He loved giving Big Granddaddy big hugs, making faces at him, sitting with him in his chair and trying grab things out of the bib in his overalls. He would often cross the room to get a cap to put on Granddaddy's head because he thought he should be wearing it all the time. We know he doesn't understand that his Big Granddaddy has gone to Heaven. I'm sure he will say, "Knock, knock" every time we get close to Granddaddy's house. That's ok. We have lots of pictures and memories to share with him as he gets older.

Yesterday, after telling MC that Granddaddy had gone to be with Jesus, she said, "I don't like that," and later "I can't believe it." She said he is sick and going to get better. He is asleep and going to wake up. Last night, she took her daddy's phone so she could "text Big Granddaddy." She told us she wrote, "I want to come see you and give you hugs and kisses." I am SO grateful she was able to see him before he passed. She told him she loved him. He said he loved her, too, and she kissed his head. I hope she remembers when she is older.

I often looked at Granddaddy and thought, "This is what Jeremy is going to be like when he gets older." I guess it's a great thing we got along then! There is so much more that I could say, but it would take forever. I know I'll continue to think of things as the days and weeks go on. For now, I think I'll choose to remember him sitting in the shade at the edge of the hay field in that old blue truck with a big grin on his face and a cooler full of Cokes and candy bars beside him.