So, you like I should make you a sammich or sumptin?
I know just how tough women can be. My Mother was the kindest and gentlest person one could imagine but she was also as tough as they come.
She was born in 1918, the youngest daughter of 12 children. Her Father owned over 1000 acres which was run by him, his wife and the children, along with 10 share croppers. One day when she was in her 80’s she asked me to drive her around where she grew up. She showed me a field which was still there. When she was six she had to go to that field every night and bring the cattle to the home field or barn. In the morning her 2 year older sister took them back to the field.
That field was 5 miles from home. Her Father owned land in Alabama and Florida. He was wealthy but believed in hard work which they all did.
My parents went to the same high school. Mother played basketball and Daddy played baseball and basketball. Despite the fact that their high school did not have a gym but played on outdoor court, they both made it to the state title game. They both lost the final game but mainly because their coach didn’t have sufficient training in nutrition,. They ate nothing but soup the day before the game
After Daddy got back from WWII Mother had saved $3500.00 from his allotment plus Daddy sent his paycheck to her too. He could have all the money he needed and more just by selling his cigarette ration.
After the war ended they bought a small farm and made beautiful crops but Florida did not have a stock law at the time, and even if you fenced your fields they hogs would break them down bu wallowing on them until the fence bent
Daddy got a job at Tyndall afb and we stayed and tried to keep the farm running. Mother worked like a slave. Taking extraordinary care of all of uw and me especially since I had whooping cough and nearly died. My older sister said tha while I had the whooping cough, mother would not let loose of me. She held me constantly while cooking, working in the fields etc.
One day we were walking from a field to home where all of us had been working and a wild hog attacked us. Mother had us all climb trees and she held him off with nothing but a goose neck hoe., and that was a very dangerous thing, that hog could easily killed her but that hog was going against a girl in whose veins flowed the blood of Scottish Warriors including one who killed Sr. Gills DeArgentine..I also recall her shooting a snake in our well. She killed it with the first shot from Daddy’t old Remington .22 Score master then spent hours bailing water until she finally got the dead snake out of the well.
Mother would not have made a good soldier as she would gave tried to comfort and take care of every kid in an outfit. Defending her own she would have been a vicious fighter but still could not have beaten most men.