Bless Your Heart

My Granddaddy died about 10 years ago. My Grandmommy has since befriended a man named Ray. Ray pulled his trailer up on the land next to Grandmommy’s house and has been living there for 5 years or so. He takes care of things for her and makes her feel safe so we don’t give her a hard time about how he’s a year younger than my mother, her daughter.

Sometimes in rural areas, deer can become a problem. Ray gets called out to rid a particular family of their deer problem each year. He hunts them and eats the venison, and the family’s land is not overrun with deer anymore. So one day a couple of weeks ago Ray set himself up in a tree stand and commenced huntin’. A little while later (no one knows exactly when it happened), he fell out of the tree stand somehow and landed face down on the ground. Where he proceeded to stay, face down, for approximately the next 24 hours until the land owners found him and took him to the hospital. Apparently he’s not doing too well. Grandmommy told my Mom that he might not make it. It was awfully cold out there in the woods.

I hope Ray recovers fully and continues to be a companion to Grandmommy. Grandmommy hasn’t called to deliver bad news, so I’m sure he’s recovering nicely. I don’t mean to make light of it at all, but I just can’t help but wonder what was he doing before he fell? You know, in my family you can’t just fall down and hurt yourself a normal way. I swear it seems my family injures themselves in the most wacked out way possible.