| Some People Touch Your Life Forever written by Carole Frye |
| Every Christmas Eve we were off to Christmas Eve service at Church, and then we would gather together with our good friends, the Brigman's, at either their house or ours to play Christmas carols on the piano, sing, eat, and celebrate the season. Ralph Brigman was a "gentle" man with a big warm heart, but on Christmas Eve, he often challenged that idea for me. "I've got my trap set for Santa this year, and he won't be making it to your house!", he'd begin. Oh how my heart would sink and I'd start fussing back, "You can't trap Santa, cause I have cookies and milk waiting for him at my house." We'd go on and on, til somehow I was convinced Santa was still coming by. Needless to say, I really didn't know until I woke up the next morning to see. Every September Ralph would call us out to his house to pick all the grapes we could eat and then some. More than one year I helped him trim the grapevines back for the grapevine wreaths I used to make, of which I still have one. I remember his swing under the shade of the old pecan tree down by the garden. You could sit there for hours and daydream, no traffic, no time clock, just the sounds of nature. And his garden, it was huge with rows and rows of vegetables, with not one weed interfering. He could have made lots of money selling his vegetables, but he chose to give them away to friends and family instead. When I was older I'd talk to him about the importance of life, and he taught me it wasn't material things that were important, but rather the simple pleasure one gets in living life to it's fullest and enjoying every golden moment we have. Somehow, I felt he had the secret to that. He taught me how to fish one summer and how to handle a catfish to avoid getting spiked. He taught me without knowing it that there was at least one man in my life that I could love almost as much as I loved my father. He was like a second Daddy to me. This Christmas, I feel blessed to have known a man that was as comfortable as an old shoe to be around, someone that has touched my life forever, someone that I miss...but I will always remember... |
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