Skip Scott and Hop Scott 

as instigated by Granddaddy



By the way, I'll tell you about
that bent lamp shade after the
story of Skip & Hop.

...when I was a very young mom...

Several of our friends and I all had
birthdays in June, so we had one party
at a different person's house every
year - and it was a BIG party. On this
particular occasion, the party was at
our house on a Saturday night.
The next day was my 25th birthday. 

I do NOT "drink" - Alcohol makes me 
sleepy. BUT - it was my 25th birthday
and I had been cooking and cleaning
all day. Needless to say, I never
finished the second glass of
whatever that was - and was asleep 
at my own party by 10:00 pm.
 
At 6:00 am, the telephone rang. I
knew it would be Granddaddy, so I
headed for the kitchen to talk and
make coffee.

Lesson learned: Never go to sleep with
more than 25 people having a party in
your house. I couldn't believe my eyes! 

I answered the phone. Granddaddy did
manage to say "Happy Birthday" - but
he had more on his mind than my
turning 25. 

"Well... looka here... when we gonna
have Jump?" I said, "Sir? - what are you
talking about?" He repeated it, "When
we gonna have Jump?" I said, "I don't
understand." He said, "Well - 
we got Skip and Hop - 
when we gonna have Jump?"

I hit the roof screaming... It was 6:00
in the morning, my kitchen was a wreck, 
I had a 3 year old and a 2 MONTH old,
and my Granddaddy had lost his MIND !!!
 
I threw a fit - I was NOT going to have
MY sons called Skip Scott and Hop Scott -
and that was the END of it! ... 

 - and if you believe THAT, I've got a
little piece of property to sell you
just south of Grand Isle - only got
a "little" water on it. 

From that point forward, all of my sons'
mail, including National Geographic, came
addressed to Skip Scott and Hop Scott. Their
Christmas presents had Skip and Hop on them.
The envelopes hanging on the Christmas tree
had Skip Scott and Hop Scott on them. It was
a nightmare. Of course, HE thought it was
simply hilarious. I was not "amused."

Grandmother would say, "I just want you to
know - it wasn't ME that did that... It was
your GRANdaddy MADE me write that." ...as if
she couldn't have told him "NO"... 

I can just hear her... "Now, Tom..."
and going right on doing whatever he
wanted her to do.

The more fits I threw, the better he liked
it. Thirty years later, I wouldn't trade that
"war" for anything in this world. He won and
I'm glad. ...but I did "get my way" after he
passed away. Skip Scott and Hop Scott was
just a little too much to hang on the boys
for the rest of their lives.

Now - about that lamp shade...

Christmas started at Thanksgiving at our
house. The ceilings are very high and we
always had a big tree in the corner behind
Grandmother. One year, Jacque and I got
the bright idea that we would string a
garland (popcorn?) around the top of the
room - and we commenced to climb. Lord -
what a mess. I remember a ladder, but I
think we were climbing on the furniture
too. Well... we fell - and the tree fell -
nobody got hurt and the tree was fine, but
the lamp shade was bent - and it stayed
that way for the rest of Granddaddy's life.

You have to remember, this is the same man
who "saved" my footprints in the dirt in 
the back yard when I was in Alexandria. And
this is the same man who "saved" a wet
vanilla wafer handprint of Jonathan's on
the living room mirror from the time 
Jonathan put it there as an infant until
Granddaddy died when Jonathan was
4 1/2 years old. 

So - saving a lamp shade that Jacque
and I bent for 20 years really didn't
seem to be out of the ordinary at our house.