Page 33 - 1st Anthology 2011

waiting to see if he’s going to get better. My heart was at the haying. My mind was at the
hospital, just wondering if he’ll get better.

He left me, it was hard. He told me something like this was bound to happen. He told me
to get my act together. I have to do things on my own. He said everything I have taught
you, you better remember. When I leave you, you’re the one that has to teach your
children and your grandchildren and talk to them no matter what happens; today life is
so fast for them. They can’t grasp anything. They can’t think straight.

They come to me with their little problems, and marriage problems. I just say slow down,
and nothing is as bad as it seems, you just have to re-think things. I’m getting to the
point, like last week I got sick, and my grandson came to me. He had little girl problems
and after that I got sick. During the time when I was laying in bed wondering if I’m going
to get better or not; It was time to reflect on the things I did in my lifetime.

My dad and my in-laws said to me, when you get to our age you will get to know what
we’ve been through. It’s sure coming true now, and eat what you want to eat nowadays.
I’m lucky, because I’m here to tell you guys on what I’ve encountered. It’s pretty hard to
find a person that will lay his cards right on the table and tell you what has happened.

The other things I got from my dad, was the time when I was always around him. He
always told me to help out wherever it was needed. Never to look on, and watch a person
suffer. You know if he’s doing something, just get in there and help out. You don’t have to
get paid or something just get in there and help them. Even if they’re having a hard time,
get in there and give them a helping hand. Make it easier for that person. That was the
law, just don’t look on and don’t let anybody sink with their ship. You are never sick or
anything, you are always motivated. You get these guys that are laid back and don’t help
anymore and it’s hard, very hard.

Like even drinking, we had our shares of drinking. One day, he said you see all that beer
there. I said yeah. He said you could be buying diapers and milk instead of buying that.
Don’t you think that’s what the picture should be instead of you drinking beer. What
happened was I offered him a beer first. He saw all these beer laying there. He never got
mad he just said that’s what I would do. So after that my conscience started bugging me,
so I slowly tapered off.

You know even in that category he was good at counseling. Just for people to improve
their lives. Like I said, he was a person that joked a lot with the boys. Teased them, and he
used to bring laughter. You know when he’s around because they would say, oh there’s
that damn Phillip. Everybody got to work and get out of his way. If not he’s going to be
down my neck. So they kind of stayed away from him. They gave him that respectable
distance. If they had no choice, they had to confront and cross paths with him and stuff.

32