THE GARNERS- 2009

THE RUNNER

I shared an article some time back about my brother, Andy, who is an avid marathoner. His goal has been to run a marathon in all 50 states and on all 7 continents. Well, he has just completed his 50th state last month, running a marathon in Alaska. His goal of running in all 50 U.S. states is complete. Not only is this a milestone, but this also marked his 100th marathon. Not bad for a 57 year old man who ran his first one in his early 40's.

He says after he runs the last 3 continents, he is going to hike the Appalachian Trail.

And you know what, I believe he will! If he dreams it, he does it.

Congratulations, Andy. You are to be applauded.

I love you!

(His state marathon awards)

HE DIED ON A TUESDAY

My uncle, James Leonard Garner, went home to be with the Lord two weeks ago, the first day of autumn, at the age of 85.

What an influence that man had on my life.

He had an 8th grade education, having to quit school to work in the mill to help the family, but was one of the most brilliant, well-read men I have ever met. His knowledge was astounding. His father died when he was 8 years old so he had to grow up quickly since there was a little sister and a baby brother (my dad) on his heels. Getting a formal education was not in the picture for him but he made sure that my dad, eight years his junior, got his.

Leonard was always there. He was the 'constant' in our family's lives. He was the bond. He always lived at the home place, taking care of my grandmother until her death. His home was the meeting place for family visits, a place to go on Sunday afternoons or after a family funeral, or to reminisce about old times and people who have gone on before.

He was a man of meager means but was one of the wealthiest people I know. He never talked about wanting bigger and better because he was content with what the Lord had blessed him with. He lived in the same house for 63 years and that was just fine with him.

He was the 'chewing gum' man at church, always ready to give a child a stick of Juicy Fruit. He chauffeured our youth group when we were at 16th Street Baptist, willing to ride us around after church on Sunday nights.

He showed up for visits at my parent's home when we were growing up, never making a grand entrance; just snuck in, unannounced. We would chat and laugh and tell jokes and listen to his musings and then, as quickly as he came in, he was gone again. His time to visit was over.

He died just like he lived. He left, unannounced, in his sleep in the wee hours of the morning; closed his eyes here and opened them in eternity. That's the way he would have wanted it.

I have so many things I could write about him, his love for the scriptures, classical music, baseball, radio preachers, corny jokes; doing the cha-cha with my Aunt Gladys, reading to us, writing poetry, nick-naming everyone, and being a friend to all.

He was a quiet man. He let His love for you speak for itself. He grew up in an era when you did not say "I love you", but I never failed to tell him that every time I saw him. The last poem he wrote me he said "I loved you the first time I saw you." I cried. That resonated louder than actually hearing him say it.

I already miss him.

We said good-bye here but will meet again, probably one day soon.

As my father went back into the funeral home to say one last goodbye, I followed him in. Just the three of us there. My dad told him what a great brother he was, that he was his best friend, that he loved him and he would miss him. As daddy turned to walk away, he looked at me and said, "Now he belongs to the ages." Wow! That comment stopped me in my tracks. It was probably the first time in a long time that I realized the enormity and vastness of God's creation of man and how we all fit into that plan. Leonard has now looked into the face of Jesus, the same face that the prophets of old have looked into, and that has made his journey worth it all.

I look forward to seeing him again...

As he wrote in one of his poems to my dad:

Across the years I have walked with you;
In deep green forests, on shores of sand.
And when our time on earth is through,
In Heaven, too, you shall have my hand.

* * *

Since Thanksgiving is right around the corner I thought I would share a poem he wrote for this season of the year:

A PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
O Father of the harvest,
Hear this, our thankful prayer,
For all the precious ingathering
Of Thy bounty everywhere.
The planted seed has sprouted forth;
The full crop has appeared;
The grain is garnered, tares cast off
For this, another year.
O Father of the harvest,
Keep us within Thy fold,
That we may be the wheat, not tares
At the ingathering of souls.
- James Leonard Garner

SCHOOL DAYS!!

"School days, school days,

Dear old Golden Rule days,

'reading and 'riting and 'rithmatic

taught to the tune of a hick'ry stick.

She was my queen in calico,

I was her bashful barefoot beau

and she wrote on my slate 'I love you so',

when we were a couple of kids."

Another grandchild starts school this year. Noah is now in Kindergarten. He says for every day he is good he gets a 'treasure chest' (token). If he collects one each day he gets to go to the big treasure chest on Fridays and pick out a prize. So far he has gotten three prizes and, as he has reported to me, all three of them have broken.

Oh well, there's always next week and a new prize.

Have a great year, Noah!!

ARE YOU REALLY 34??

Kristen, you grew up too fast. And now your children are growing up too fast.

You were a novelty and a delight to a 21 year old new mother. We sort of grew up together and I have always been proud of you!

It is a joy, as a mother, to see your children grow up and become women of God and Godly wives and mothers.

I love you and thank you for returning that love to me.

Happy birthday, Dit!!

You're a doll!

TERRIBLE TWOS!!

Madelynn just turned two years old.

She is a little Wootie!! (my youngest daughter's nickname). I can walk into the room and when I see her it transports me back to when I was 25 and taking care of her mother.

I love to watch her dance, she is all about the hips!

Happy birthday, my sweet grandbaby Maddie Joy!

Cousins

Stand By Me | Playing For Change | Song Around the World

Mark Johnson travelled the world and recorded these artists/musicians, None of them ever met; they just added their contribution to the recording before them.
I cried the first time I watched it.

GIANT LEAP DAY

There's Leap Year, Leap Day and then there was Giant Leap Day.

With “...one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” astronaut, Neil Armstrong, pilot of the lunar spacecraft, the Eagle, made the first footsteps on the surface of the moon at 10:56 p.m. EDT on this day in 1969, 40 years ago.

So incredible were the TV images of Armstrong and, 15 minutes later, Buzz Aldrin, exploring the lunar surface, people around the world stopped and collectively held their breath. The words “Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed...” gave instant impact to the drama of watching human beings reach something so far away so successfully. And all were able to breathe once again.

The American flag that was deployed, along with other moon-landing memorabilia, including a lunar rover, still sits on the moon as abandoned space junk. While Armstrong and Aldrin explored, astronaut Michael Collins piloted the Apollo 11 command ship, Columbia, above the moon’s surface.

The world again stopped in anticipation of the fragile lunar module lifting off from the moon and rejoining the command ship, reuniting the three astronauts for a most historic trip home.

I was 15 years old; the summer when I was anticipating going into high school for the first time. I remember the baited breath, the expectation, the excitement as we all watched in the den in our house on Twain Road. It is a memory like 'Where were you when you heard about the assassination of JFK?'

We take those missions for granted now.

And I still can't believe that there are people who don't believe that it ever really happened.

Why is that?

LONGEVITY

1914
My grandfather, Edgar Addison Garner, Sr.

1940's
My great-grandmother, Alice Cornelia Mounce Cox
My grandmother, Hattie Mae Simpson Garner (Dad's mom)

1940's - Gladys Garner (Busick) (Daddy's oldest sister)

1925 -

Edgar Addison Garner, Jr. (Daddy's oldest brother)

James "Leonard" Garner

Thelma Mae "Peem" Garner (Gouge)

1940

Dovie Garner (Manuel)

Ralph Younts (Thelma's son)

Carl Garner (my Daddy)

- - - - - - -

My father is 77 years old and to his advantage, longevity runs in his family.

His sister, Thelma "Peem", turned 90 in May.

His brother, Leonard, turned 85 in March.

His sister Dovie, turned 80 in April.

His sister, Gladys, lived to be 89.

His mother, lived to be 83, even with a history of heart trouble for 40+ years.

Daddy has had some health issues as of late but I have a feeling that he will be around here with us for a long time to come.

That's my prayer.

His father, Edgar Addison Garner, Sr. is the exception to that long life. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 36; Daddy was 8 months old. Daddy doesn't remember him and I never met him. But one day ...

I am proud to be a Garner. These people had a great influence on my life.

MERRY GO ROUND

Phil and I went to Greensboro/McLeansville for our grandson, Luke's, 4th birthday. The birthday was held at the Burlington City Park, very nice place and lots for the kiddies to do. First, they all dressed up like pirates for the party and then we rode the train, FUN, FUN!

THEN, there it was; the crowning glory of the park, the main attraction, "The Carousel".

Four of my grandchildren, Phil, Kami's nieces and nephews, and I got on the Carousel or "merry-go-round" as we called it in my day." Carousels have always had a magical, mystical, innocence to me. Everyone, all ages, love to ride the "hobby horses".

As we each climbed up on these 'magical' horses, unicorns, bunnies, pigs, etc., I picked out a beautiful stallion, no problem; got on just fine. Everyone was finding their place and my granddaughter, Caroline, kept looking back at me but was not smiling. I then asked her if she wanted me to get on the animal beside of her and she smiled and said "yes". Being the loving grandmother that I am, I shimmied down off of the horse and proceeded to climb upon, what else but, a pig. Now, over the last few years I have put on a few extra pounds and the 'pig' was not exactly what I wanted to be sitting on top of due to the connotation of what the 'pig' signifies.

As I tried to get on, the pig was not on the downswing of the cycle but was as high as it could possibly be. I could not hoist myself up. I grabbed the pole, put my foot on the pedal but it kept slipping off. Then Phil saw my demise so he came and tried to help me; but no luck because I was laughing uncontrollably. By this time, everyone on the Carousel is watching and waiting for me to get settled so the ride could start. Even the young man at the controls was watching and waiting. Would I give up? NO, not me! Finally, with a death grip on the pole, I got my legs up but now I was riding sideways with my legs locked around this pink pig while hanging on to the pole.

So the ride takes off and the blood is rushing to my face and I know if I let go of the pole, I will fall and bust my head wide open. With dogged determination, I give myself one more push on the pedal and finally; contact! I made it! By this time I was out of breath, red-faced and watching my oldest daughter, Kristen, sitting on the bench watching us go round and round and laughing so hard her nose is running and she is crying. Even better; my daughter, Kami, the clown in our family, is on the carousel just a few horses in front of me, pretending to hone her skills either as a circus performer or, God forbid, a pole dancer; not sure which. Now we have a crowd watching and my grandchildren don't have a clue as to what all of us and everyone else is laughing about.

One good thing about the ride is that the young man at the controls gave us a nice long ride.

Why couldn't I have just stood to the side of one of my grandchildren like Phil did? The 'kid' in me just wouldn't let me.

And next time I see a carousel I will ride again. I just won't change seats.

And hopefully, no one was videotaping me. I would hate to end up on AFV.

(As you can tell, I was still trying to take pictures.)

Luke & Papa


Noah ('arrrgh')

Caroline

Nathan

Kami (between performances)

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

It is no secret what the family business is in our family. But a neat fact is that all of the men in my family, with the exception of my dad, has a biblical name.

My brothers: Andrew, James Timothy and John Thomas.

My husband: Philip.

My son-in-laws: Paul, Thomas Andrew and Jeremiah

My grandsons: Nathan Paul, Noah Andrew, Philip 'Luke' and Nehemiah.

Now, the next few thoughts may not mean much to the average reader, but to my family, this will be of much interest. So if you don't know our family you are not obligated to read on.

They say that names mean something and that a child is not given just any name by accident. As I pondered these Biblical names that the men in our family have, I checked out the characteristics of the Biblical character to see if there was any parallel. I was amazed at what I found...the parallel was, in fact, uncanny.

The Biblical characters:

Andrew - Determined

James and John - Boisterous (brothers; known as the "Sons of Thunder")

---James - willing to let his brother take the lead

---John - the dreamer

Philip - leader, witness

Paul - persuasive, activist, bold

Thomas - faithful, yet skeptical

Jeremiah - compassionate, tender-hearted (known as the "weeping prophet")

Nathan - fearless, accountable

Noah - visionary, patient, faithful

Luke - focused, investigative, detail oriented

Nehemiah - the rebuilder

To my amazement, the men in my family, pretty much, can be identified with these very traits. The grandsons have not yet developed all of these traits, but I can already see some of it in the older two, Nathan and Noah, and even some of it in Luke.

The identity in a name is much more important than we think. And the way I see it, these traits are each unique within themselves and should weave together to help strengthen each other within the family.

“A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.” Proverbs, Chapter 22, verse 1.

GRADUATION

Noah, our grandson, graduated from pre-school this year.

Noah is a sweet boy with a head full of ideas, a creative mind and a vivid imagination. He is funny and says things in a way that most 5 year olds don't even think of.

We are so proud of him.

HAPPY GRADUATION, NOAH!! You have a big part of my heart!

50 YEARS! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

1 week old

Happy birthday to my baby brothers, James and John Garner, who turn 50 today. What a hoot growing up with those two guys. There was never a dull moment in our home!

From laughing at everything, making fun of most things and re-enacting every scene from every movie & TV show known to man, I just can't understand why they didn't make it to the 'big time'. One of their friends did but never pursued it because of moral compromise and that is something neither James nor John would have had a part in so...they will continue to be good husbands, good fathers, good pastors and preachers and act in community theatre. And you know what?...that is the 'big time'. They seem perfectly content and they have made a great impact on many people's lives.

I am probably one of their biggest fans.

I love you guys!! Happy birthday!!

One year old

1966

1974-15 years old

James & Robyn

John & Laurie

LEST WE FORGET...MEMORIAL DAY

My uncle, Edgar Addison Garner, Jr. served in WWII. He was a paratrooper who stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day and came home a decorated war hero for the lives he saved.

My father in law, James Melvin Whitt, a tail gunner with the Army Air Force, never served abroad, but his brother, Cletus, served in the same war and never returned home, a fallen hero.

I grew up during the Vietnam War, probably the most unpopular war ever, but I still honor those who served. You will always be heroes to me.

Edgar Addison Garner, Jr.

James Melvin Whitt

I honor all of you today!

KAMI IS 32!

Happy birthday to my daughter, Kami.

Kami was born a week late and when she got here she was in no hurry to do anything. She was a very docile, laid back baby and enjoyed being by herself; not a needy baby like her older sister was. I always told Kami she would have been a good 'only child' in a family because she was content to be alone and in her own world. She would withdraw and desire to be by herself many times as a child, entertaining herself. This bothered me at times but then I realized that this was, in fact, healthy behavior which helped her to develop her creativitiy, one of her strongest characteristics.

Kami is quick quipped, entertaining and thinks of things no one else even dreams of. I had rather hear her describe something more than anyone else I know of because she is so colorful and enlightening. A photographic memory and knowledge have always come easily and naturally to her.

I do not get to see her enough since she lives three hours away from me but I cherish every moment we do get to spend together.

Kami, I cannot commend you enough for the wonderful wife, mother and Godly women that you are. You are a delight to me and a wonderful daughter.

I love you dearly. Happy belated birthday post.