Reunion: Buddy and Chuck met in high school and formed a friendship that has lasted over the years - fast forward 40 years... and they met again this weekend.
Chuck's mom: "Why Buddy I didn't recognize you, until you opened your mouth!"
Yes, Buddy's accent was the topic of conversation, Chuck even commented about the Christmas letters received over the years - "I didn't know that you could write with a Southern accent!"
Even though Chuck only lived in Georgia for 5 years or so, he still uses y'all quite a bit (confirmed by his wife, Geri) - it is nice to know he still has some Southern roots.
A lot of stories were dredged up out of foggy memories, I didn't realize that so many of Buddy's stories involved Chuck, too. We heard the one about the grizzly bear, about hiking the AT, about building the waterwheel and kayak, about the trek across the country.
Chuck told of remodeling and adding on to several of his homes over the years, attributing all of his building knowledge to skills learned from Buddy's dad (a.k.a. Papaw Tidwell), working on various projects, mainly the house at Tumblin Waters.
We shared new stories of kids and grandkids and jobs and trips and houses, looked at pictures new and old we all brought to show and tell. On the way home I finally realized that we didn't take any NEW pictures!
So many stories of youth, friendship, adventure, family, life. Wish you could hear them all, guess you had to be there...
I told Chuck that we were trying to get Buddy to write down some of his stories to pass on for posterity. He said not only was that a great idea, but that he wanted a copy. No, make that a signed copy!
