Nov '25 (edited) • NEW MEMBERS ~ SHARE YOUR STORY
✨ Ageless Wisdom & The Good Ole Days ✨
Every year around this time, this memory cracks me up all over again. 😂🤣Oh, the sweet moments we hold onto forever…
It’s been 38 years since I divorced my children’s father on September 19, 1987 — and what I’m most grateful for is the life we lived during those formative years. Country living shaped my babies in ways a classroom never could.
Because of those years…
🌾 My strong, multi-talented son, Michael, became the true “jack-of-all-trades Carpenter.” That boy can build a house from the ground up and do every single thing in between.
🌸 My beautiful daughter, Mishele, grew a green thumb so magical she can make anything bloom. Her knowledge of plants still blows me away.
We chopped wood to heat our home — all five fireplaces of that big old antebellum house.We planted huge gardens, canned everything we grew (tomatoes, corn, green beans, salsa, jams — if it grew, we preserved it!).My husband and son hunted every season, and our freezer stayed stocked with venison and even squirrel.
💼 Small Town, Big Hustle
During those years, we were living in the tiny farm town of Trenton, right outside my birthplace — Ft. Campbell, KY — near the border of Clarksville, TN.
My husband had just lost his job when I noticed an empty Chevron gas station sitting right in the middle of that one-horse town. I called the Chevron jobber, he came to our home, interviewed us right there at our kitchen table… and the very next week, we were running a full-service gas station with a two-bay garage.
My husband was in his element — he’d built his first car at 18 and had worked as a Ford Parts Manager and mechanic for years. He was either in the garage repairing vehicles or out on the farms repairing tractor tires and filling them with calcium.
And me? Honey, I did EVERYTHING:
⛽ Pumped gas🧽 Cleaned windshields🔧 Checked oil & fluids📚 Did the books📦 Ordered all the auto parts and kept up with the inventory.
The kids’ school was only one block away, so they’d walk to our station after school, do their homework, and help pump gas. We were open 7am–7pm, Monday through Saturday and closed only on Sundays.
And because I’ve never been one to sit still…
💧 I was also the Corporate Secretary/Treasurer for Culligan Water Conditioning, located directly across the street from our gas station. I’d run over there when needed to do their books and sell reverse-osmosis home water systems.
🏫 Every school day at lunch, I’d walk two blocks to my kids’ school, collect lunch money from children receiving public assistance, and send a monthly report to the Board of Education.
I was busy. It was exhausting. It was beautiful. And it made us tough, bonded, and resilient.
This is only ONE chapter of the “Good Ole Days.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From my daughter, Mishele’s FB Memory (still makes me laugh every time 🤣)
Shared Nov 17, 2020
“Ohh the memories of pushing my brother Michael down the stairs still crack me up 😂😂😂
We lived in this huge antebellum house in Trenton, KY. I was 10yrs old & Michael was 8 or 9. The entrance had a 24' ceiling and something like 36 stairs. We’d take Mom’s heavy-duty Christmas boxes (that we were absolutely NOT allowed to touch 🙄) and Michael would sit in the box at the top of the stairs. I’d already be giggling because I knew I was about to push him down the stairs… and he was gonna smack right into that wall at the bottom 😂😂😂
We had horses, raised chocolate labs, and lived such a simple life… but it was GREAT. Both our parents worked full-time at the gas station, so we had that huge house to ourselves a lot. We had a lot of chores that kept us busy, but not out of mischief. Every bedroom had a fireplace — I think there were 5 total — and we spent weekends cutting and stacking wood with Mom & Dad. Those fireplaces were No joke!
We also worked every summer in our families tobacco fields - three acres of blood-sweat and tears — that was NOT for wusses!! That childhood made us tough as nails. I wouldn’t change a thing. So thankful for those days. ❤️”
These memories are my treasures — the kind that live forever, Country life may not have been easy, but it raised two resilient, talented, grounded kids… and gave all of us stories that still make us laugh 38 years later.
Here’s to the GOOD OLE DAYS. And to the beautiful adults those little country kids grew into. 💜🏡🌾
In loving memory,
💝 Deb, Mom, Grandma Grady
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✨ Ageless Wisdom & The Good Ole Days ✨
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