And They Danced: A tribute to two dear friends

And They Danced: A tribute to two dear friends

The nurse was making her rounds that early October morning, when she heard a voice coming from room one twenty seven Mrs. Woodward’s room. She peeked inside and Mrs. Woodward was carrying on a conversation with herself.

“Mrs. Woodward is everything alright” she asked. Mrs. Woodward replied in a calm and stable manner “Yes sweetie Bill was just telling me that he and I were going to go dancing again very soon.

You know Bill loves to dance, the first time I met him in 1931 he was dancing a jig in the cotton field as he was picking cotton. He was ten years old and I was nine. The Great Depression had taken its toll on most families and farms here in Arkansas but Bill’s dad and mom managed to keep their small farm and my family sharecropped for them. Bill and I hit it off from the first time I met him that day in the field. If Bill went fishing I tagged right along behind him.

We sure enjoyed the spring time when the dew berries were ready to pick, oh lord honey we would pick five gallon buckets full and his mother and mine would bake pies and cobblers. You know I haven’t had a good dew berry cobbler in years.” Mrs. Woodward stopped and looked at the nurse and asked. “Honey what is your name?”
The nurse replied “Mrs. Woodward my name is Sarah and I will be your nurse today. I need to take your blood pressure, temperature, pulse and give you your morning medications.”
“Oh you go on ahead and do what you need to Sarah but I am feeling fine” replied Mrs. Woodward.”

Sarah continued to take Mrs. Woodward’s vitals as Mrs. Woodward continued to talk about the days of her youth “It was a few years later when Bill was fifteen we were out picking berries and he ran across a small green snake in the dew berry vines. I was unaware because I was busy picking berries and he came up and said “look at what I got for you Hazel.” “Goodness gracious I took off a running with Bill on my heels chasing me with that green snake. He was laughing and I was screaming. He cornered me near a huge ole cottonwood tree and told me it wouldn’t hurt me but I told him if he came one foot closer I would claw his eyes out. I guess he saw the fear in my eyes and the anger in my face because he put down the snake and came and sat beside me. He wiped a tear away from my eyes because I started to cry by now and he told me he would never hurt me. Sarah under that cottonwood tree in 1936 Bill kissed me for the first time. From that day on it wasn’t the same I just wasn’t Bill’s tag along I was Bill’s girl. We went to all the community dances as a couple. Back in those days Sarah people had dances in their barns, houses or yards. They would be people that would come from miles around and the women would cook a big supper while local musicians would perform. Bill and I would dance until mom and dad would tell me it was time to go home.

Bill Graduated high school in 1939 at the age of eighteen and a year later in 1940 I graduated at the age of seventeen. Things were starting to improve with The Great Depression but times were still hard. Bill and I were sitting on his porch one evening and he told me that he was going to start saving to buy his own cotton farm and then he asked me what I thought about that. I told him it would be nice but it would take a long time to save up that kind of money. He told me that he was going to start out sharecropping for his dad and if the economy kept improving he would have enough saved in two years to buy eighty acres.
Then he asked me if I would marry him. Sarah it was like I had swallowed a bucket of butterflies”
Sarah giggled softly and asked “what did your mom and dad think about Bill wanting to marry you?”

Hazel replied “my dad and mom always liked Bill, he was always respectable to my mom and dad and a gentleman around me. My father gave him permission and blessings. We had planned to get married in the spring of 1942. Then that heart breaking day December 7th 1941 changed our lives forever. I was in the house with mom when Bill came knocking on the door. My dad answered the door and told Bill to come in, Bill began to tell my dad about the Japanese attacking Pearl Harbor. I asked Bill what he thought was going to happen and Bill told me that there was no way President Roosevelt could keep the United States neutral any longer. Then if it couldn’t get any worse he told me that he was going to enlist in the army. I was heart broke but told him that I would wait for him.”

Hazel Woodward took a drink of water and re-positioned herself in her hospital bed and continued. “Bill left the next week for basic training and I was a worried mess, the man I loved was going thousand miles from our little spot in Arkansas to fight over seas. Things ran through my mind, what happens if he never comes back. What happens if he comes back in a coffin but I held on to the good memories of Bill, which was dancing. He promised me before he left when he returned we would dance together for the rest of our lives. By the grace of God Bill kept his head down and did come home at the close of the war, our little town gave him a coming home party and a band of local musicians, I think if my memory serves me correct they were from around the Big Lake community and were called the Big Lake Grinnell Giggers. Oh Bill was full of joy and we danced and danced. You know his favorite song was the Tennessee Waltz; he had them to play that song three times that evening.

Bill and I got married in 1946, he took over his dad’s farm and we started our family. Just as Bill promised me we danced and we danced. When the first of our three children came along Bill would come in from the fields and scoop up the baby, grab me and dance around the living room with baby in one arm and me in the other. Even when we found out that Bill had emphysema in 1994 and would have to be on oxygen, he would take me to the sr. citizen’s center to dance every Tuesday night. Friday nights we would go to the American legion for “Friday nights dinner and dance” and dance to old timey music. Yep Bill kept his promise that we would dance for the rest of our lives. Up to six months ago Bill had taken me dancing for fifty-eight years. Oh how we danced then Sarah, six weeks ago Bill passed away September 15, 2004. Sarah can you do a favor for me, it’s such a pretty fall day could you open the window so I can see all the fall colors.”

Sarah went to the window and pulled back the long curtains and opened the window just as she opened the windows a light fall breeze rushed through the window screen. The curtains looked as if they were waltzing in the breeze and she heard Hazel say “Bill dance with me.” Sarah turned toward Mrs. Hazel Woodward whose eyes were now closed and a peaceful smile adorned her face. Sarah looked back at the curtains that continued to dance gracefully in the fall breeze. She knew that Hazel and Bill had picked up where they left off…….. dancing.

Written Feb 17, 2010 by Awanita aka Knowlton’s Rangers

[Faith33]

Oh, what a beautiful story....
My heart has gone from cold to warm, accompanied by hot tears streaming down myface....

Thank you for this beautiful share...

[Theophila]

I have to admit this made me cry...what a lucky woman...I hope they are dancing together up there

Thank you everyone. They were two special people that I took care of, and became very good friends. She loved to tell stories about bill when they were younger.

[Faith33]

Originally Posted by Awanita

Thank you everyone. They were two special people that I took care of, and became very good friends. She loved to tell stories about bill when they were younger.

Awanita, I would love to hear more....
These stories are such an inspiration to me!

Originally Posted by Hope33

Awanita, I would love to hear more....
These stories are such an inspiration to me!

Thank you. I am trying to bring more of my work from a site that is not very active now..so I will try to post more of my writings. Thanks everyone for your comments.