Sawdust Pile

When I was a boy my father was a part time saw miller. He learned the trade from my grandfather. He set up an old mill near the house under some pine trees. It was just one of those many things he did to keep food on the table. I have many fond memories of playing around a saw mill. It was also the place where I got one of my first jobs; we called the job doodling sawdust. When the mill was in operation a chain pulled the sawdust away from the saw and pilled it up in a pile. At he top of the pile was a pulley, and it was there where I worked with a big scoop keeping the pulley from getting clogged. When the mill was not working we often played in the sawdust, climb to the top and slide down. It was Alabama sawdust sledding. It is just one more memory of life in Lamar County, Alabama. Thinking about those huge mounds of sawdust, I now realize it was made by individual grains of wood. So much like life, we tend to see it as a whole measured by hours and days weeks and months and years, but in truth, life is made up of moments. The longer God lets us live the bigger the pile, but in reality it is the moments which count, moments of kindness, moments of appreciation, moments of watching a sunset or holding your wife’s hand, moments when you kiss your child on the cheek and tell them how much you love them, moments when you say to Kerry and Paul, “thanks for being my friend.” I would like to think that when I am gone my children and grandchildren can laugh and play on my pile of moments. Oh! To all my friends, make the most of your moments in 2010. I love you all, I’ve got to go play on the sawdust pile. jfs