Are there any events in your family tree that, if things had gone even a tiny bit differently, everything would have been rewritten? Here are my family’s tales of barely missing being written out of history.
If you had the opportunity to know your fate, would you take it? My Granny used to tell of a spring down behind Upland Church that was said to tell your future. You took a glass and would draw water from the spring around 9 in the morning. There were two possible things you would see. One was a church, and the other was a coffin. If you saw the church, you were soon to be married. The coffin meant death was near. My Papa’s mother saw a coffin and died very soon after. I was always rather curious about what I would see but never got the chance to go as Granny became too sick to take me.
This next part is one of defying death without medical intervention. Granny was helping get some kindling cut for the wood stove. As Papa swung the axe, Granny wasn’t paying attention, and her hand was too close. The blade hit two fingers. She said blood was spurting everywhere, and they were not near any neighbors. Papa took out a knife and ran the tip through the bleeding areas. He took a certain number of steps backward and went into the edge of the woods. Then, he allegedly went to a specific type of tree and cut into it with the blood-stained tip of the knife while quietly uttering words unknown to me. Granny said the bleeding had stopped before he got back. She was always adamant that she would have bled to death without Papa’s intervention.
My last story is such a fortunate event that I probably wouldn’t be here to pen without it taking place as it did. My Mom and her sister had German measles, but the little bumps wouldn’t appear. They were running very high fevers and incredibly sick, getting progressively worse truth be told. The doctor had already been to the house twice and couldn’t get the measles to break out. He said he feared what would happen if they didn’t. Papa knew precisely what to do. There was a special plant that only grew in one place that he needed to make tea. He went, gathered it, and made the tea. Both girls drank it and within hours were covered in measle spots. It took a while still to recover, but the tea Papa made did the trick.
Sadly, the knowledge Papa had of healing is long gone. That knowledge was only passed from a second son to his second son. Papa’s second son, to whom he would have given the knowledge, is also gone. However, what we do have is an amazing legacy and birthright. Thank you, Granny and Papa. May we come even a fraction close to filling your shoes.
