Brianna Barber
One of the memories that always makes me smile when I think of PawPaw isn’t some grand, picture-perfect moment; rather it’s a muddy, slightly chaotic one.
It’s one from the summer spent in Kentucky. We had managed to get the four-wheeler stuck. Not just a little stuck either—completely, hopelessly, knee-deep-in-mud stuck. And to make matters worse, Mom had already made it very clear: one more mishap and the four-wheelers were gone for the whole summer (to be fair the list of mishaps was getting quite long). So naturally, we were panicking… and also trying very hard to look like we weren’t.
That’s where PawPaw came in.
Without much fuss, he waded right into the mud with us. No lectures, no “I told you so,” just a quiet determination to get that thing out before anyone else found out. There he was, knee-deep in the mess we made, working alongside us like it was just another ordinary afternoon.
I remember thinking at the time that he was kind of our secret backup plan, the one who helped us fix things before they turned into real trouble. And somehow, standing there covered in mud, he made it all feel less serious… almost like we might actually get away with it.
We did, by the way. Thanks to him.
Here’s to muddy boots, quiet help, and getting out of trouble just in time.
