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My son John was riding through the little town of Nashville, IL on his bicycle on his way to school one day looking upward at the sign his dad had made for a business there in town. Because he wasn't watching where he was going, he ran into the back of a pickup truck, went flying through the air and landed sprawled across a big machine part in the back of the truck. Fearing the owner would come out of the business and wonder what he was doing in the back of his truck, he climbed out in a hurry and walked his bike the rest of the way to school because it was no longer rideable. When he got home he told me what happened in his laid-back way and when he finished I asked if anyone stopped to help him. He said, "Yow one man stopped but he just laughed and laughed."
My older sister and I, my two kids and her son were walking through the woods my older sister and her then husband had just purchased in Millstadt, IL. They were going to build a house on the property. My youngest sister was also with us. She went on ahead with my little son then all of a sudden she came running back to us terrified. We asked her what was wrong but she could hardly speak. Finally she got the word "snake" out and that was enough. I took off running toward my son who had stayed where they were and was standing perfectly still. We knew there were Copperhead snakes on their property but we failed to take that into consideration. I had to slow down before I got to my son so I wouldn't startle the snake. It was coiled and was having a staring contest with my son, who was standing there peacefully. I stood back as far as I could from my son and grabbed him from behind and got away from it. We had had enough of our tour of their woods so walked back to the car, but I had to put my son down because my knees weren't holding both of us. They had gone weak and shakey.
A more humorous life experience: My older sister, Linda, and I were looking for a parking place in Belleville, IL. Traffic had stopped at an intersection and a nun walked across the street with her habit flowing behind her in the wind. She had just purchased a broom. My son, just a toddler at the time, exclaimed, "Look, Mom! There's a witch!" Trying not to laugh I responded with "That's not a witch, honey, that's a nun." He said "Yes it is too. See she even has a broom." About that time we found a parking spot but we were laughing so hard we could hardly walk cross the street.
Many years ago I had a pair of scissors in my hand about the time company came through the door, so I laid the scissors on the kitchen counter thinking that since the counter was taller than my son was, he couldn't reach them. I went to greet our company while going back through the kitchen. I looked down the hall and there was my young son running down the hall with the scissors pointed up. I just about had a heart attack. I couldn't get to him fast enough -- literally -- because he tripped and fell with those scissors pointed up. I picked him up while imagining the worst, but God must've sent an angel because all he had was a crease in the protective film on his eye. God has blessed that kid and us so many times. Don't you know his guardian angel is exhausted, though.
My then husband and I were in the kitchen doing our normal kitchen things when all of a sudden we both saw a bright flash of light come from our little son's bedroom at the end of the hall. We ran as fast as we could to his room to see what happened. He was just lying in his bed with eyes as big as saucers. We looked around the room and saw a melted nail under an outlet. I couldn't tell John was shocked in any way. Not even his fingers were burned. Once again, thank you God. He is now in his 50s and a grandfather.
We lived on an acre that was narrow and long. My son was playing in our back yard. He was a little more than a toddler. He was in the company of a bumble bee. Somehow he made the bumble bee madder than a hornet and the bee took out after him. I was surprised at how fast his little legs could run. He almost made it to the far end of the property where pine trees were growing and he tripped. When he did, the bee lost track of him and whizzed over him. All I could do was watch from the sliding glass doors in the dining room nurturing near heart attack #400. He was fine.
My dad loved to fish. Several of us older siblings were visiting our parents with our kids. They were still young. Dad decided to take my son and one of the youngest of his cousins out in the boat to fish. While they were fishing, a sudden storm came up -- a gullywasher. I was at home worrying and so was my youngest sister, the mother of the cousin that went fishing with Dad and my son. They ran into a small problem when the storm hit. The car was on the other side of the lake. So Dad headed for the other side. My son is laid-back and doesn't panic easily, or at least he didn't back then. He has his own kids now. That changes things. Back to my story, when they finally made it home I asked my son if he was afraid. He answered "No." I said, "Well, didn't water get in the boat?" He replied, "Yes, but we just poured it out."
My two kids, two of their cousins and the mother of the cousins were at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City. We mothers let the kids go on the rides while we stayed on solid ground. We were chatting away when all of a sudden my son and his sidekick ran up to us and said the girls were on a ride. He could hardly get the words out. I wasn't concerned at first because I thought maybe they were scared on the ride and my son was scared for his sister. As it turned out, all four kids were scared because the roller coaster ride the two girls were on had stopped on the highest part of the roller coaster with a broken wheel The girls discussed whether or not they were going to die because they didn't see how they could possibly get down. They were terrified. Part of what confused me when my son told me they were stuck on the ride is that he expressed his fear as anger. So my mind went the wrong direction. I wondered why they were into it this time. He wasn't and isn't an angry person, never threw tantrums, didn't throw things or get mouthy, but he was angry then. He actually taught me a psychology lesson that day. Just because a person acts angry doesn't mean the person is truly angry; they may be afraid. My son expressed that same anger when he thought his sister had been kidnapped while sprinting down the country road. She went out of our sight, which was unusual, but she had just turned a corner and went farther than usual. Fortunately the girls weren't stuck on the ride too terribly long and we could all relax.
When
the Covid scare hit our area, the Wall family had our church service at Peg's
sister's house past Summersville and a short way into the country. They have a
deck just outside of their dining area. A bee had been guarding it for a month,
holding them hostage. Arlene's husband, Paul, tried everything to get rid of
the bee but couldn't. Little John went out on the deck and the bee flew by so
he swatted it to the deck with his hand and then stomped on it. Two more bees
showed up later and he made it his mission to kill them too. He swatted one so
hard in the air with a fly swatter that it ended up on the roof. He climbed up
on the roof to make sure it was dead. Then he went after the third one. I left
before he got that one. He amazes me with some of the things he does. I have to
add this: His dad did something similar only with mice. They were hiding in a
wood pile in our back yard. They came scurrying out and John Sr. stomped at
them until, as far as I could tell, he got them all. His legs were flying.
That’s one reason he was captain of the basketball team at Central Christian
Church decades ago. A game at Central is where I first saw him and declared him
my future husband. He had never seen me and wouldn’t until a couple of months
later.
I had no sooner finished writing these true life stories about "my son John" when he was told he had cancer. Since he is a private person, I will keep the details private. He went through surgery, seven weeks of radiation therapy once a day except weekends, and chemo once a week. The things he had to go through in preparation for the radiation treatments were, in my opinion, horrendous. He had to be hospitalized for a week partway through the treatments. During his surgery and treatments, hundreds of people were praying for him.
His final treatment was scheduled but he couldn't make it because he was vomiting. It was scheduled again but he couldn't make it this time because the reservoir across the road was flooding and he couldn't get out. The secondary dam had breached. So he went out and filmed it.
The video was all over the
local news. He didn’t respond to CNN’s request to use it globally or he would
have had more views than the 142,000 views on facebook alone. The video told the story of the
flood but there was another story behind the flood story and that was his personal story. John is cancer-free
and is recovering at a normal pace. He is back at work except when he has to
take time off for hospital visits in St. Louis, local doctor visits, and tests. He
still welcomes prayers.
Here is the link to John's video of the secondary dam breach across the road from his house. His house was unaffected.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JZTiS4fApU
Becky Wall
beckyowall.blogspot.com
