PURPOSE AND PRAYER

Since we retired several years ago, we’ve had many travel adventures, fun with grandchildren, and amazing experiences. We decided to start a blog to share some of our stories and insights. We are not always on the go, although some probably think we are, but life is going, whether we are or not. So we might as well get the most from our days as they slip by. Sometimes it is on a motorcycle or a Miata ride, maybe in our camper or somehow exploring the world around us. Sometimes, for me, it’s still working on a Human Resources project, reading a book, or writing and reflecting on life. One thing that we have discovered is that God and our friends and family make life better; and learning, growing and experiencing new things are always part of our Fun Days On the Go!

1/20/23. My Dad’s Birthday

My Dad had an independent spirit. I have several friends who have their own business and I see how hard they work to pursue their business dream. As I reflect on my Dad and his life, he too had that dream and he made it a reality twice – one of his stores was at the intersection of the Blue Ridge Parkway and Shooting Creek Road in Floyd, Virginia, and the other was on Lick Ridge, Check, Virginia. I was about one year old when my Dad sold the store on the Parkway, but looking at the ledgers of both stores (which I now have), that store had quite a few customers. Daddy only had a 4th grade education. He loved his middle name Keen, and he had a gold tooth in his denture plate. That was done quite often in those days, just to be snazzy, I guess. Within the family, he often went by Morris K. to distinguish him from his nephew, Morris Ray Agee.

We saved his store sign. It now has a proud place on our basement wall.

I remember some things about the store in Check. Daddy loved being a merchant. The store was a small cinder-block building beside a gravel road in the Lick Ridge area of Floyd County. He sold flour, sugar, animal feed, eggs, overalls, socks, coffee, kool-aid and candy treats, among other necessities, which was a real variety for such a small store. He even had salt-cured hams at times. Animal feed and flour came in sacks with flowers on them, so later they became pillow cases in thrifty households.

Neighbors and family members who bought from the stores had a tab that was kept open until it was paid. One particular memory was of a man who lived several miles away who would come with a sack on his back to carry home what he bought. He didn’t come by a road; he walked over the hills to get there. So the store had a valuable purpose to the neighbors who lived on the Ridge and in Floyd, and so did Daddy.

Couple pages of his ledgers.

He worked hard each day on the farm, in addition to the store, milking cows, feeding the pigs, gathering eggs from chickens (we had a lot), building and fixing fences, but his favorite thing was going to church on Sunday. He wore a hat and suit with a tie. He loved to sing. In fact, when we went to visit someone, he greeted them when they opened the door with a few lines of a hymn, generally Amazing Grace or What a Friend We Have in Jesus. He was a simple man; he didn’t ask for much. He would often say, a “pack of nabs and a coke” was all he needed.

Even though Daddy was independent in many ways, he showed his dependence on Jesus when times were hard. I would often see him on his knees praying. He taught me about living out his days with purpose and prayer.

My Dad and Mom on their wedding day, February 25, 1956.