My Home Town
I'm in a really, really good mood tonight. I'll share that with you in the next post. Right now, I gotta vent!
This is my town.
Where I was born, where I was raised.
Where I keep all my yesterdays.
Where I ran off 'cos I got mad,
No one missed me when I left town
But I came back to settle down,
It's where they'll put me in the ground:
This is my town.
(With apoligies to Montgomery Gentry)
Yep, Cleveland Tennessee.
My home town.
It's a sad little place really. Probably no different than the thousand of other places in this country the same size. Our most recent claim to fame is a few state representatives got caught taking bribes by the F(in)BeeEye last week.
I'd estimate that the last time we were anywhere close to news was 1996 when the Olympics held the Paddling (no not that kind!) events on the Ocoee River. Hell, even that is in the next county. But our motels got the overflow I guess.
Cleveland has more church headquarters located here than any other city in the U.S. I remember as a child the COGOP held their yearly convention/camp meeting/ circus here in Cleveland. It was held in the predominantly black section of town. All the white folks that would never have been caught dead there any other time of year would flock there to get cotton candy, fountain drinks and go to Dooley's Ice Cream Parlor. That was my favorite part. I had no idea for years that it was a church meeting at all. We were southern baptists so I wasn't used to any kind of organized religion.
Much later I would meet the girl that became my first wife who was the daughter of a COGOP church treasurer. He and his wife were fine people. The rest of the family, outside of one brother-in-law, pretty much sucked. She became what the preachers would describe as a wanton woman. At least that's the side I and her boyfriends saw. Her family (all except her Dad) branded me the asshole and she was their little angel. Hey guys, ask the little angel about the guy in the Pinto.
I found out years later why her Dad was pretty much on my side during everything. I won't go into it here since he's now not with us. I will not defame someone that can't defend themselves. But suffice it to say that we pretty much saw eye to eye on a lot of things.
I guess I hold all this against Cleveland although the majority of my problems with her were in Alabama. But she did bear me one son that I love dearly and think about daily. Regardless of the problems we had, she and her 2nd hubby did a good job raising him. For that I will always be thankful.
I'm going to end this now since it's way off track of the original subject but I promise to return to it later.
This is my town.
Where I was born, where I was raised.
Where I keep all my yesterdays.
Where I ran off 'cos I got mad,
No one missed me when I left town
But I came back to settle down,
It's where they'll put me in the ground:
This is my town.
(With apoligies to Montgomery Gentry)
Yep, Cleveland Tennessee.
My home town.
It's a sad little place really. Probably no different than the thousand of other places in this country the same size. Our most recent claim to fame is a few state representatives got caught taking bribes by the F(in)BeeEye last week.
I'd estimate that the last time we were anywhere close to news was 1996 when the Olympics held the Paddling (no not that kind!) events on the Ocoee River. Hell, even that is in the next county. But our motels got the overflow I guess.
Cleveland has more church headquarters located here than any other city in the U.S. I remember as a child the COGOP held their yearly convention/camp meeting/ circus here in Cleveland. It was held in the predominantly black section of town. All the white folks that would never have been caught dead there any other time of year would flock there to get cotton candy, fountain drinks and go to Dooley's Ice Cream Parlor. That was my favorite part. I had no idea for years that it was a church meeting at all. We were southern baptists so I wasn't used to any kind of organized religion.
Much later I would meet the girl that became my first wife who was the daughter of a COGOP church treasurer. He and his wife were fine people. The rest of the family, outside of one brother-in-law, pretty much sucked. She became what the preachers would describe as a wanton woman. At least that's the side I and her boyfriends saw. Her family (all except her Dad) branded me the asshole and she was their little angel. Hey guys, ask the little angel about the guy in the Pinto.
I found out years later why her Dad was pretty much on my side during everything. I won't go into it here since he's now not with us. I will not defame someone that can't defend themselves. But suffice it to say that we pretty much saw eye to eye on a lot of things.
I guess I hold all this against Cleveland although the majority of my problems with her were in Alabama. But she did bear me one son that I love dearly and think about daily. Regardless of the problems we had, she and her 2nd hubby did a good job raising him. For that I will always be thankful.
I'm going to end this now since it's way off track of the original subject but I promise to return to it later.
posted by OpinionatedSOBinTN at 8:37 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home