An old friend of ours showed up this morning in our driveway. He was on the way to deposit his trash in our trash cans (with our permission, of course). He only fills one bag of trash a week so we save the city a few bucks on gas by having Tom bring his garbage to our cans.
Back in the late 70's Tom became one of Advent Glass Works, Inc. employees with the job of building stained glass church windows. Tom later bought property from us, married and had a couple of children, divorced and moved away for a while. He sold most of his property, reserving only a small tract of land for himself deep in the woods southeast of our house.
Tom is vegetarian and often resorts to eating wild plants off his land. He is a machinist by trade and also helps in refinishing houses, including ours. Did I say he is a perfectionist? I often felt out-of-place and in-the-way as I meandered around Tom during the remodeling of our house for fear I would get the look, which meant get out of my way, lady.
I have found memories of Tom. During the late 70's one Christmas the temperature dipped into the teens and our house was completely without power or water for days. Tom's house is on a different power line; therefore, Truett and I and our two children and our nine guests trekked up to Tom's for warmth and showers. Thank you, Tom.
I also remember when we would get heavy summer rains; and if Tom were visiting, he would grab up Clay's toy dart gun and take aim at giant palmetto bugs that were seeking dry refuge in my airy old house. I don't remember if he ever snagged one, but he sure did scare them off into the woodwork.
Tom's philosophy is simple: Live and let live and don't bother no one, and especially, don't bother me.
Even though we are a stone's throw from Tom's house, we rarely see him, and when we do we catch up on what's happening now. He is a friend.
That was sweet that he let you photograph him.
Posted by: Sherry | November 11, 2008 at 02:08 PM
When I asked if I could take Tom's photograph, he asked, "Is it for a good purpose?" I answered, "Yes."
Posted by: Merry/Nana | November 11, 2008 at 02:14 PM