I remember when I bot a semety two Chevy from Bruce Wayne’s granddaddy

Cecil said that after an hour or so of picking through the garage

Wait a minute, I said, if you bought a 72 Chevy from Bruce Wayne’s granddaddy, the you bought it from my granddaddy’s twin brother Ramos!

(yes, in 1903, these two boys were born and named Amos and Ramos, one of which, Amos, was my beloved granddaddy)

Here is the story of how I met Cecil (buckle up, it’s a long one coming….)

Just after we drove across country in 2018, we had to move into the house quick because we were throwing a party for Mom

She turned 80 that year

Tracy came up to help get everything placed and hung just so

As we were driving through Smithfield about then, we saw a yard sale going on

Out front was a metal table and chair set

Crazy as it seemed, I wanted it at first sight

We negotiated delivery from Cecil, the master mind behind the yard sale

Which, as we learned in time,he seemed to have often

Nice guy, said he lived in the smaller house, behind the farmhouse on the property having the yard sale

We used and enjoyed that set for years

Flash forward to our last garage sale we had this April

Cecil came about 11 am, he was late for his type

All the outdoor furniture we had for sale was sold to someone who showed up an hour and a half before the garage sale was scheduled to start (but we were ready thanks to Chad!)

Cecil says, didn’t I sell you a table and chairs awhile back? Deliver it here?

Yes you did.

You still got it?

All we have left is the table and 4 chairs but we need it for staging while we put the house on the market. But if the buyers don’t want it, I will let you know

I sold him a ceramic piggy bank that had a 50 cent piece in it I couldn’t get out for $1.50

So that brings you up to date, to Thursday this week, less than 12 hours after landing for my final clear out trip

So I asked our realtor if the buyers wanted the table and chairs. No, they have their own stuff

I needed to move them off the deck

Mid day, I went back to the farm that had the yard sales, knocked on the door of the little house

Only heard a dog bark, must have woken him up

I looked around a bit, no signs of life, other than the barking dog

So I got in my car, turned it around on that dirt lane

Out comes Cecil from the big farm house in his sock feet

Just the man I was looking for, I said

You remember selling me a table and chairs, coming to our garage sale?

Where was it?

Goose Hill. See here is a picture of the table set you sold me

Oh yeah, I remember

Well, you said you’d be interested in it if our buyers didn’t want them. It’s yours if you still want it

Yeah sure, he says. You want me to pick it up?

Yes, that’d be perfect

What time? How ‘bout 1 pm tomorrow? Perfect, see you then

Oh, if you are interested, I have a bunch of miscellaneous tools you might also want

Ok then, I will bring my van

Just to be clear, it is not a regular thing for me to go up to a quiet old farmhouse down a long dusty lane and knock on a door looking for someone I briefly met before

But I had a nice peace about it

The next day I get back to our house at 9:30 am

I was expecting to see Ed, another angel

But it wasn’t Ed, it was Cecil, he was early this time, way early

I thought I would get here before it got too hot, he said

Ok then, back’er up

He grabbed the table and chairs I needed off the deck

He made his was through all the miscellaneous tools and things…..taking pretty much everything, saving me so much work and headache

He offered to help me because I gave him so much stuff to sell in his next yard sale

So I gave him a few more problem things, like half full gas cans which had no telling what in them

Along the way we were talking

He grew up in the area, one of 9 kids

It didn’t sound like he made much out of his life, working on this farm, that farm, at “Foods”

He was now 72 years old

He said his boss gave him the farmhouse when he died and a pocket full of money too

So he lives in the big house, rents the small house out now

Gives the tenants $50 off rent for his birthday month, her birthday, and $200 off for Christmas, which they “much appreciate”

Since he had grown up in the area, I asked him if he knew any of my kin

That’s when he brought up buying the 72 Chevy from my grandfather’s twin

Blew my mind!

No doubt Hattie and Amos (my grandparents) up in heaven, along with Ramos, his son’s Bruce & Roland, Uncle Ebby, Aunt Moogie and the who Butler / Spady gang, conspired to send Cecil my way

And I am grateful for that, all the help I needed to clear these last bits

And….grateful for that “semety” two Chevy…..

Yeah Debbie, this was a goat story……