My mom was the youngest of 11 children. Her daddy had copper hair therefore several of the eleven children he fathered were blessed with beautiful red hair. My mother had the brightest...the "copperiest" if we can pretend that's a word for a second; so that became her nickname. "Copper." It was given to her by her daddy the night that she was born upon his discovering her red locks in the hospital nursery. Unfortunately, I never got to meet her daddy but mom tells us that there was only ONE incident in her entire life that she heard her daddy call her by her legal name. He introduced her to a co-worker. "This is my daughter, Kathy." That was the only time. Otherwise, for all of her childhood, she was called "Copper."
This wasn't the case in public though. There were 11 of them, each with legal names, of course, and then their daddy had given nicknames to ALL of them. Then the parents adopted two more children...13 kids. So each of them became known in public by their last name. "Woody." It was easier than remembering 13 (x2) names, I suppose. Throughout my life, on my dad's side of the family and among my mom's close friends, they all did (and still do) call her "Woody." I always found it odd when visiting some of my aunts and uncles, as I would hear their friend's and neighbors call THEM Woody. When my aunts and uncles talk to EACH OTHER, however, they would use their legal names.
"Hey, Kathy!
"What's up, Betty Jo????"
"Oh, I was just over visiting Twinkle earlier!"
Yes, I have an aunt named "Twinkle." No, that wasn't her birthname. Her birthname was Lila Mae. Twinkle was the nickname her daddy gave her the night she was born (as there was only one twinkling star in the sky.) I believe she eventually had her name legally changed to Twinkle actually. At least that was the name on the checks she would give me after I'd help clean her house when I was a kid. All this considered, TWINKLE's husband called HER Woody, too.
Confused yet? Shake it off, shake it off. Because the names that really matter in this story are those of my parents. How they knew each other. Their interactions. Their journey.
I feel like I can say this without being offensive to my mother since she begins the story of her love affair with my dad with these very words. "My big brother, Bo Bo, was pretty popular. (No, Bo Bo isn't his legal name.) So, I became known as 'Bo Bo Woody's fat little red headed sister.'" This is the name by which my father knew my mother. Beautiful, huh?
From grade school, my mother had the biggest crush on my daddy. He never knew she was completely enamored with him, but she was. She tells the story about walking into high school on the first day of her freshmen year and upon seeing my dad again after a few years in different schools, her heart thumped. She never let him know though. My dad graduated and went off to college. Mom continued through school, carrying her torch for him throughout the years....
Something eventually happened in high school though. Bo Bo Woody's fat little red headed sister discovered Weight Watchers. By her senior year, she was a flaming red haired, drop dead knockout. And guess who noticed...?
The year was 1972. The place to be was the Clancy's parking lot. My mom was there in her little 62 Rambler hanging out with a few of her friends. Suddenly, she saw him pull up. There he was. My daddy. He rolls through the parking lot in his beloved Volkswagen and parks close by. He no longer had his neatly cut hair from high school. His hair was almost as long as mom's hair but she was definitely a fan. After a few pleasantries and a bit of flirting, my mom, dad and two of mom's friends decided to take a drive to "The Pinnacle."
If you haven't heard of or seen the Cumberland Gap Pinnacle, you have no idea what you are missing out on. At an elevation of 2,400 feet, the overlook hosts a breathtaking view across Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. A winding 4-mile road leads from the park visitor center, up the mountain and to the concrete platform, directly overlooking the town of Cumberland Gap and my hometown of Middlesboro, KY.
After some time admiring the view, the group decides to head back to the hangout in town. As they get to mom's car in the parking lot, dad gets "cute."
Dad: "Alright, Woody...I'll make a deal with you. If I can run off this mountain and make it back to Clancy's before you can drive there...you have to give me a kiss." From what I have heard, dad didn't really think this through very well. It was SEVEN miles.
Mom was down though. She replied, "You're on."
Mom and her two girlfriends burst into laughter as they watched my dad IMMEDIATELY take off sprinting across the parking lot, onto the winding road and out of sight. Mom was no fool. She just stood there. "Let's give him a head start" she told her friends.
She fully expected him to come back into view any second but, nope, he didn't. She began getting concerned so she jumped into her Rambler and headed off slowly down the mountain. her friends and her surveying the hillsides and the trees for him or some clue that he had been through there. She found herself at the bottom of the mountain without a single sight of him. Now, she was REALLY worried.
She turned herself around and went BACK up the mountain. He was no where to be found. After one more trip down the winding road, she decided it would probably be a good idea to check the Clancy's parking lot. It seemed unlikely but at this point it was the only positive outcome she could imagine. She pulled into the parking lot and there he was...Leaning back on the hood of his Volkswagen with a huge smile.
That night was their first kiss and the rest is history. I was born about 18 months later and they just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They have NEVER been apart. Not once. They will tell you today that in all of these decades, there has not been a single doubt that they found their soulmates in each other. It has been a beautiful thing to witness for my entire life.
There was always one question though...HOW? My dad can definitely keep a secret and it literally took him YEARS to break down and tell the truth about that night.
When he began running, he realized he had, in fact, not thought this through. Should he go back? Should he wait for her to come around? If you are familiar with my dad, you probably know that "turning back" is not at all the decision he would make. Instead, he didn't even stay on the road. He cut straight through the trees, hitting the road momentarily before cutting a straight line down that hill and through the trees again. Until...a truck stopped him. It was a park ranger. The ranger jumped out and demanded my dad explain himself.
Dad stopped, threw his hands into the air and shouted, "Listen...there is this beautiful red head at the top of this mountain and if I can run to Clancy's before she can drive there, she is going to give me a kiss."
The park ranger paused for a moment, then opened his passenger door and said "Jump in."
