I Ate As Slow As I Could, Hoping It Would Last Forever….

The first thing I noticed was the odd shaped, six-sided table. We were at Fat Cats in Rogersville, Alabama, sitting down to eat breakfast. Three alternating sides were scalloped inward and the other three jutted out and were squared off…just enough for one person to sit and eat comfortably.

I was wanting to ask the story behind the name, Fat Cats; but I got so intrigued by the table, I completely lost that train of thought. J.C. moved over to the table and picked out a squared off end. The rest of us fell in line.

It had already been one of the best weekends of my life. It wasn’t every day I got to see Moe Bandy in person. I knew the concert would be special. But it exceeded my expectations by 10,000 percent! I jumped up and sang with him on, “Hank Williams, You Wrote My Life.” And I thought about Melinda, Billie Jean, and Mary Hadley when he cranked up, “I Just Started Hatin’ Cheatin’ Songs Today.”

J.C. leaned over from the seat on my left, “It’s David’s turn to pay.”

I immediately told the waitress I wanted the biggest porterhouse steak in the place, with eggs, grits, bacon, biscuits, gravy, and apple pie and ice cream for dessert.

Everyone laughed at that old ploy.

The truth is anyone of the six of us would, and had, paid for all of us at one time or another. We quit keeping score on such matters years ago. But that didn’t keep us from good naturedly pointing fingers and calling each other out.

Family.

David was on my immediate right. You cannot believe, as kids, how many Indians and outlaws we chased down in the mornings and then, come afternoon, we pushed every Japanese and German soldier hiding in the big ditch behind the house all the way back to Tokyo and Berlin.

Joe sat on the other side of Dave. He was J.C.’s younger brother. “Bear,” as he had been known to us since birth, has always been the quietest and most gentle of the bunch. He was a steading force when we were all boys running wild up and down Steadman Ridge, or fishing with a rifle in the clear water of Sugar Creek.

Their father was our mom’s younger brother. I believe you would understand the reverence with which we still speak of both Mom and Uncle Clifford. And our conversation is never far from Pa and Gran. Uncle Hugh. Aunt May White. F. D., and countless other precious related souls that shaped, molded, and pushed us along the road to adulthood.

Richard was on J.C.’s left, he’d come all the way from Lawrenceburg to see us off. Dave and I were leaving for Florida as soon as the meal was over. He married C and Bear’s younger sister. Now, I know about those “married in” folks. Some didn’t measure up. But let me tell you, there wasn’t a guy at the table that wouldn’t put their life in Richard’s hands in a New York second.

It doesn’t get any more family than that!

Allen sat directly across from me. He wasn’t a cousin. Nor did he marry anyone kin to us. And I have not known him for a lifetime. But C and Dave have stamped their approval on him. That is good enough for me.

And heck, he’s the one that bought the tickets and invited me to the Moe Bandy Concert. And then went out of his way to ensure that I had the best time of anyone there. If that ain’t family…. then a hundred-pound sack of Martha White flour won’t make a big biscuit!

As I munched on my pancakes I marveled at the goodness of the moment. I studied every face. I pondered on the touch each one of these men had on my life. I thanked God all over again for the blessings He continues to pour into me.

We talked about everything, and nothing. We “remembered” a gun show in Tulsa. We mentioned one or two of the million idiotic things Leon got us into. We would be in 1956 one minute, and yesterday, the next.

People got to staring at a group of “mature” men laughing and carrying on like school children. One lady leaned over so far from the next table that I thought we might have to rearrange so she could join us. She mentioned the Moe Bandy Concert must have been very special by the way we were talking about it.

She was partly right. It was great, even monumental, to see a country singer I had idolized for half my life. But when I really took a second to put everything in perspective, the really special moment of this weekend…. was sitting around an odd shaped table in a place called Fat Cats, sharing life with my family….

Respectfully,

Kes