The "Still"ness ...

As a child I remember visiting my grandparents in Plantersville, AL., quite often. Pawpaw had worked in the coal mines but they were farmers in every sense of the word. 

Pawpaw built their house himself and memaw birthed a few of her babies there.

Their gardens flourished from year to year. Chickens, goats, cattle, you name it, it was there.

I remember pawpaw showing me how to milk the cows and memaw running me out of the chicken coop. I remember walking the dirt roads picking blackberries and muscadines for pawpaw to make his wine.

Memaw was taller than pawpaw and larger than him, too. He would roll his own cigarettes and she would dip her snuff. She could spit from the rocking chair of their front porch directly into a can at the bottom of the steps, farther than any man I have ever known, even to this day.

They loved their card games and memaw took pride in her doll making. We weren’t allowed in their living room because of it, but we would always sneak in and plunder around anyway. If we were caught, she would have us to pull our own, “switch” off of one of the bushes out front.

On Sundays we would always visit for dinner. It would literally be an eight course feast of everything from their garden and a chicken or two from the backyard. I even remember being a little scared of my memaw for quite some time because I saw how she caught those chickens to wring their necks. As a child, it was like a scene from a horror movie.

There were certain parts of their property that we were never allowed to trod. As an adult, I knew it was for my own protection but as a child… I was filled with curiosity.

We lost my grandparents many, many years ago, but oh, the memories…

My pawpaw had moonshine stills deep in those woods. I actually often talked about it nearly every chance I talked about my grandparents.

After my dad’s memorial service on January 17, 2020, we gathered around to reminisce about him and the “olden days”. We decided to take a trip down memory lane and visit the site of my grandparents old house. I remember the remains of their house that once burned, being torn down around 2014. Though the house is gone, the shine cellar part of the ground and the rock steps can only be viewed as a memory... there is one black walnut tree still standing just in front of where the old barn was.

As my family and I walked the grounds of that property sharing our memories, we had the pleasure of meeting the gentleman that currently owns the property. He had purchased the property only four years prior and was still in the process of doing a lot of clearing off. I jokingly mentioned to him while pointing up towards the hill, that pawpaw once had stills deep in those woods. He excitedly pointed in another direction that he had found one of them.

He was an older gentleman, it was dusk, yet he treated my family to a tour through those woods to see the remains of the still.

The barrels were clearly visible and the water from the spring was still intact and running. It was icy cold and the taste was as fresh as I remember.

I watched my young nieces, nephews and grandchildren explore those woods with excitement. My grandson even tumbled in the damp, oak leaves.

The looks on our faces were priceless. Each of us wanted to touch, taste and capture those moments to keep them alive for our children and grandchildren to cherish as much as we have. It did our hearts good.

If I only knew then what I know now about that place, how it changed lives, how it molded each family member into who they are today ... I would give anything to have it back ... to share it with my entire family ... to keep it alive for generations to come.

As I sit here alone in the stillness, I weep in happiness while I visualize my grandparents, my daddy and his brothers and sister who have also passed on, gathering to tell tales of their childhood, playing cards and drinking shine or wine. Memaw in her apron, pawpaw in his overalls, my aunt with her bright colored lipstick and cigarette in hand, my dad and his brothers chatting about women, debating one another on random things while playing tunes on their guitars. The way it once was when we were all together as family, not realizing at the time that those precious things would be only memories.