How Hillbillies Saved My Life

I've been reading a book by Phil ("How's that working for you?") McGraw. He says that in everyone's life there are at least 5 people who have had major influence in their life. The influence could be either negative or positive, but it is a definite factor in the person you have become... the "nurture" part of nurture vs. nature in shaping the human psyche. I gave this some serious thought.... who had influenced ME over the years of my life?

One who stood out was an aunt, my dad's sister. Her name was Macy. She was the quintessential "hillbilly".... born and raised in the back hills of the Missouri Ozarks. She is the only woman I ever knew who chewed tobacco.... "Redman" "Tobacco to be exact. I tried it once or twice... it made me sick.... nasty-tasting stuff...She practically lived to hunt and fish. She also toted a rifle everywhere she went.

I was just a young boy, raised in the big city. This backwoods way of life was a totally different experience for me, and every summer, starting at about the age of 10, I would spend summers with her and her husband, "Sol". (It doesn't get any more "country" than this.... Macy and Sol)..... and, of course, their numerous dogs, cats, chickens, goats,....assorted menagerie of odd-ball animals.

There is a reason I mention her specifically as one of my own "top five." In my "city" life, and specifically during the school year, I wasn't very "athletic"....not very....not hardly....maybe not at all. I always got picked last for those recess football, baseball or dodge-ball games. That was back when kids could actually interact on the playground and even get "hurt" sometimes without the ACLU swooping in and filing a lawsuit to close the school down. The good old days.

I usually felt sort of "left out" from a lot of activities.... probably because I "was" left out of a lot of activities....

But..... every summer, when I would visit my aunt and uncle in the back-hills of Missouri, I was very much "accepted." My aunt would pull out this beautiful (in my eyes) 22 "over and under" rifle, (part 22 caliber bullet and part shotgun), give me a brief education on how to hande it and shoot it and then she would look at me and say, "let's go hunting!"..... music to my ears....

Her grandson, who was about my age, would come down there every summer also, so I had another kid to play with and get into trouble with. ("Trouble" meaning, like..chasing skunks or tormenting a bull)... you should never try it,... it will end up badly).

Every summer for several years we would follow her down the trails and through the backwoods of the rugged Ozark terrain. (For some reason, "Sol" was more into driving us to a trail head and simply staying in the old pickup,... sleeping).... weird....

We would hunt and fish and pick wild blueberries and blackberries, swim in the local "crick" and rivers. I felt like Huckleberry Finn.... I "lived" like Huckeberry Finn... for about 8 weeks every year... and I loved it. I couldn't wait to get up every morning and start a new adventure...

The reason I pick "Macy" as one of my top 5 most influential people is because, at that young age, .... she gave me a glimpse into a better life, ... a life where I was trusted (remember the rifle?), and "accepted" ....unconditionally. She never told me, "you can't do this"... she just led
the charge and expected me to follow. Actually, looking back, she gave me a lot of the type of "nurture" that one should expect from a father figure, even though she was a woman. My dad, her brother, was an alcoholic and really never had a lot of time to give me... at least, not without the accompaniment of a few of his close friends,... Jack Daniels and "Bud" Weiser....were two I got to know well....

Looking back, the memories I have of those summers spent in the Ozarks, with the "Hillbillies", always come flooding back with fondness and gratitude.... and, I believe the underlying reason is because, as a kid, I always felt more "at home" with those folks who accepted me for who I was and treated me like family (because I was), and especially, because I found in them something that every heart years for.... unconditional love.

No matter where it comes from, or the shape it comes in, unconditional love is, I believe, a requisite for forming a stable personality. Most of us spend out entire lives searching for it, grasping for it, only to find it slipping through our fingers like a ghost. Human love has its limitations and I have found that no one can meet the necessary requirements perfectly, no matter how hard they try or how much they care. Even my aunt, with all her good intentions, was still a flawed figure in a lot of ways, but she was able to give me, as I said before, a glimpse into something that would eventually, as an adult, find it's fruition in my relationship with my "Heavenly Father", the One Who is, I have discovered, the Author of "Unconditional Love"....

I believe it was "He", all along, actually leading me though those rugged Ozark hills and valleys, and now, today, by His help and grace, I still find myself treading life's perilous hills and valleys, being led... by grace,....unconditionally,....all the way.... home....