HANG ON TIGHT...

Let go you lose! Now, you say, “what does that mean?” Well, would you believe that was one of our favorite games on the farm? Can anyone guess what I’m talking about? I wonder how many of you have actually played this game?

You have to have an electric fence. A what? A fence that is electric…that is, an electric current runs through it putting off an electric shock when touched. It can give you quite a jolt. Also needed are a few kids. To make the game more fun, you need at least one who has never played the game. The “how to” is easy. Everyone lines up perpendicular to the fence taking hold of the persons hand on either side of them. Now, take a big, deep breath. Let it out. 1, 2, 3…the first in line takes hold of the fence leading us to the object of the game “holding on” while the electricity runs through to the last then makes it’s trip back to the wire only to begin the trip back down the line again. This is where being new to the game comes in…the new guy is always last in line where the jolt of electricity is the strongest. If he or she hangs on the longest there are lots of ooohs and ahhhs and they are king for the day. Thankfully, we had an electric fence around our pasture and I loved this game. We had lots of laughs, always congratulated one another for a good job done and made sure each others hair was slicked back down good and proper when finished.

Admittedly, I haven’t grabbed hold of an electric fence in a really, really long time. But, the concept of “hang on tight…let go you lose” has stayed with me. And, now that I’m “older” I do appreciate so much what that means. Just think of all that we have to hang on to…

Our spouse, admittedly there are times when we felt like letting go just a little,

Our kids, God love ‘em, there were times when we wished we could fence them up and never let them out. Times when we would open the gate and wonder if they would ever go out,

Our parents, we longed for the day when we could leave their “pasture” and live our own lives. Then, we grew up and learned what letting go really means.

Our God, Who will never let go even though there are times when we do.

I apologize for the rambling (not really). I just hope I’m making sense to someone other than myself. Actually, I have been to bed already tonight and this “Moccasin Holler Memoir” creeped into my head. I knew that if I didn’t get up and type something I would never remember it later on. So, this is just a rough draft to help put it all together when I am awake. This time I decided to share it with you before the fixin’ up…let me know what you think.

Nitey nite.