Sunday, June 21, 2009

EVERY LITTLE GIRL.....FATHER'S DAY


Every little girls needs a daddy like you. I know.....because I'm a girl, I have daughters and now a granddaughter. And boys need daddys like ours. Mine and Ron's parents grew up in the same community and actually his mother and my dad were in the same class. My dad used to pull her pigtails while they were in class. Ron and I did not know each other though until we were out of college and teaching school .
Ron's dad was a sailor in WWII and met Bobbie, Ron's mother, in Slaton when the train with soldiers and sailors stopped to eat. While there, Bobbie and 2 of her 3 sisters met their future husbands. One of them wrote his address on the inside of a matchbook and threw it out the window to her as the train pulled away.
Bobbie and Sam married in January of 1946 and my parents married in November of the same year. They will celebrate their 63rd anniversary this year. That's a long time to be married. Sam worked for the Santa Fe Railroad until he retired. My dad, Zack, was a cotton farmer south of Lubbock and was given an agricultural deferment during the war in order to provide needed goods.
Our dads loved us, played with us and taught us how to work hard, and to be people of honesty and integrity. They literally started with nothing but love and that was their foundation. The day I was born, my dad wasn't allowed to stay in the room with my mother for the night and he slept in the car parked beneath her window, knowing that the love of his life and his new baby girl were up there. That was as close as he could get to them that night. When I look at those photos of this very young man with this tiny baby named Patricia, I can see how in love he was with this new life. I saw that same love in my husband when our girls were born, and then on my son-in-law's face when Bella arrived. (Okay, pass the Kleenex please.) You can't explain what happens to your heart when you hold the child you help bring into the world.




Zack & Barbara Payton








Sam & Bobbie Hogue









Ron and I waited a long time to find each other. It makes a great story and those who've heard it a hundred times sigh again. Neither one of us dated in high school or college. I made a list while I was in high school of the qualities I wanted in a husband. I just didn't see anyone of interest until I was already teaching high school English at the little school where I grew up. He was the librarian and I was the English teacher. When word got out that we were dating, we got lots of teasing from the students and teachers. He was my first date to homecoming and we were teachers! But it was worth waiting for God's BEST. I had made a decision to not marry just anyone and that meant lots of lonely Saturday nights at home with my parents watching "Gun Smoke". It meant being alone in a world of couples. I just wanted to be so special to someone. Ron's grandmother says that she knew something was up when he started coming in from school humming and smiling and being in that same mood when he got up in the morning. We've been married 31 years and he's filled every one of those things on the "list" and more.

My life Bible verse was and is " Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." He did. Ron and I were able to have a love from the Lord and build a home that He blessed. God is good. We are so blessed, to be together, to have our girls and son-in-law and grand baby, our friends, family and so much more.

A lot of you reading this have had Mr. Hogue for 4th grade at Yarbro and you know how wonderful he is as a teacher. He brought science, math and reading to life. Any Senior that I photograph who had him for a teacher, knows exactly which Christopher Columbus ship they were on, and about the Nature Center, and about the "polar bear in the Frigidaire". It was a blessing for our girls to have him as a teacher. At dinner each night, they'd talk about "Mr. Hogue said this " or "Mr. Hogue said that...." :) He was the teacher as well as their daddy.

Now as he teaches at Quest, he brings challenges and knowledge to his students. They all love him--all of them. He's the BEST!!!!




Our girls on the first day of 4th grade with "Mr. Hogue"

























Now we are privileged to watch our family grow and watch our children become parents. They are loving every moment of it. What a joy to watch them, and of course to love on precious Miss B. Yes, every little girls needs a daddy....like you.