November 2004 The Megaphone Page 7
by Sharon (Benedict) Hurst
Part 2
Our
oldest child decided to move back home and go to more school while he lived
there. Kept his expenses down he said. So he came back to the nest and enrolled
for more classes at
Our
daughter was married and expecting a baby and this was very exciting to both of
her brothers. The fall before the baby was due, (the next February) our
youngest son also decided to return to the nest and go to school at UTA in
As time went on, there were a few times when one or the other of our children, and their family, would ask to come home for a few months to get on their feet to further their ambitions. We always had room for them, their old rooms were available, and this was never a problem.
As we grew to retirement, our situation changed and created a move across the country from our kids. This was very difficult for us and, as I found out later, for our children. We had never lived more than 20 minutes from home to home and the farthest any had been away, except for the Navy, was to Austin and Sam Houston, a measly 3 hour trip to each place.
First our youngest son and his family asked if they could come up to stay for a while. They were tired of apartment living and the kids needed to be around their grandparents. We had downsized our home to about ½ the size it had been but this could be done. Then our older son felt he wanted to move here to be able to help his dad. Now we have a very full small nest.
Time passed and having the grands here was delightful. But, that too passed as that family found a place they wanted to live and start their own nest for themselves. Not to worry, we visited both our daughter and her children and our son and his family and this was comforting to us. And, we still had a son who lived at home. Life was good and we were happy with the status quo.
In
2 days, our last son at home will be leaving the nest. He taught at the middle
and high schools here for the past 3 years and is now going to
We are finally becoming Empty Nesters again. We are excited and happy for our children. They all have become good adults and have great families. I know everyone feels this way about their own, but I know that my children have become good friends with many of my own good friends and this reinforces my feelings. These things make me so very proud of each one of my children. They are well liked by all who know them and have many friends, mot only among their peers but also those older friends they grew up with. They have always kept in touch with old friends as they have made knew and for that I am most grateful.
I think about our children and feel those things that I felt the first time I held them. As their own children grow to be adults, our own will better understand what I mean. I think about our grandchildren and relive the memories of our own through these little ones. I have finally realized that parents do not become empty nesters. Their nests are always filled; with the memories, the visits and the love that families have for each other. That is what makes us so very different from the birds and the beasts of this earth. We are always parents and grandparents first and we will always have the nest, no matter the size or the place, open and ready for our family. We are fulfilled and satisfied with the life we have lived and the life we have before us. Would I do it all over? You bet, in a New York minute.
Sharon (Benedict) Hurst '53
Elwood, Indiana
He Lived A Hard Life . . . That Daddy!
My dad, Harold Eugene Mountcastle, Sr, was one of the best fishermen around when
we lived in
One day he came home with terribly infected scratches all down his leg. His pant
leg was shredded. His story was: "he was in his boat fishing and saw this humongous
Catfish swimming in the water and knowing he didn't have anything to catch a
fish with, as big as this one was, he said he put his leg into the water and
dangled his foot and leg like a worm and sure enough, caught that "big
mama".
In our growin' up years "we finally figgerd it out"....the way it
happened. "That humongous Catfish really did have daddy's leg in her mouth,
because she was trying to protect her nest when daddy stuck his foot in there to
get her to come out. He almost drowned that time because "Mama
Fish" was tossing him around like a predator.
Sometimes he would hold his breath and go under the water along the river bank
and while "feeling for Catfish"...he was not aware that he was under
low limbs or dead brush, and when he had to come up for air, he was not able to,
and had to scamper to find a clearing. So a few times daddy came close to
drowning, each time swearing to be more careful the next time.
Without fail, he always came home with lots of Catfish filled with an abundance
of "Fish Eggs". Although he taught us kids how to clean fish it
was hard to keep from disturbing the sac around the eggs and that became daddy's
job real quick. One wrong stick with the knife and eggs would come oozing
from the tiniest hole. He kept the task of cooking them too. What a treat!
Ever heard of the Turtle Man? Daddy gained the name and with good cause!
Like the Catfish, he knew when the Turtles were nesting too. It was much
easier to feel for these critters than to go "fishing" for them. Don't
know how he ever kept from losing a hand or a few fingers...but he never did.
Come to think of it, he did lose the tip of one....and he came home with his
hands and fingers bleeding from bites and sometimes a little meat was
missing.....but ya know....he never acted like he was in pain. Daddy was
tough.
And I never dreamed Snapping Turtles could be so big. Why they got bigger and
bigger. We used to have plenty of turtle-meat at home until it was in demand at
the bars where daddy sold this delicious meat, in Elwood and Perkinsville.
Daddy was the only one who cleaned these big turtles and had to build a
"Turtle-Shed" behind our house there on the corner of So C & 13th
Streets, right there at the tracks. I think the shed is still there. He
bought an old school bus and painted it navy blue, and had a long boat he put on
the top. Inside the bus were cages for the turtles. Before he got the
cages he just threw them in the bus. He could carry more that way even if
it was dangerous for him. It wasn't long before he had to fix a wall between him
and the snappers though, because one day while he was driving that Turtle Bus,
one of the bigger snappers just about got him. Don't know why he never thought
of that. He worked alone for the first few years, and then along came a guy
named Sam who was almost daddy's equal and later became his rival.
It's kinda gross how he let "mother nature" clean them up, but clean
they were. This was a "work smarter not harder" solution, that worked
perfectly. Well one day he had a brain storm and it went over big...with
this big collection of various sizes of turtle shells and daddy began making
sturdy coffee tables, placing a large turtle shell on the shelf beneath a thick
sturdy glass top. He also made night lights with the smaller shells and
fruit bowls according to the many different sizes of shells. I have to tell you,
he made some bucks!! At Christmas time he gave each one of us kids a
fruit/nut bowl wrapped nicely in saran wrap tied up with a pretty ribbon
Daddy worked hard to be the best at whatever he did. For years he was in
construction, and had his name on the Board at the Union Hall in Indy. It
was as if "Bosses" just waited until his name went up...because one
would hurry and take his name off and hire him. He helped build roads and
if there were any rough places or raised spots that would make driving a hazard,
you can be sure it was not my dad who helped build that road. He was the one who
cleared the land for development across from the Country Club on
His favorite piece of machinery was "The Crane". He was on cloud
9 behind the controls and it showed too. Once when he was working in
Daddy was only 58 yrs old when Congestive Heart Failure claimed him.
Our family never got to know the daddy that I grew to love, during his last year
on this earth. During one of our conversations, I asked him if he ever
wished he could go back and change things, and to that he said with a sad voice,
"you don't know how many times I wish I could go back and change
things". He wasn't just trying to pacify my longing to hear him say
that, it was from a pure heart that Jesus had a hold of now. "Want
to's" can be changed when they grow tender towards the Lord. Indeed,
my dad did grow sweeter and sweeter as the days went by, for 1 whole year.
Maybe his earlier years were not as grand as his last year, but I've
heard... "it's not how you start that counts, it's how you finish".
There's more that could be said about daddy, but that's all in the
past....and after all he is not in my past anymore he is in my future.
Louise (Mountcastle) Romine '56
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