Every Life Is a Story That Deserves to Be Told: True Stories About Life’S Ups and Downs

By Harold Isbell

Harold left home with eighteen dollars in his pocket, driving a car with no reverse, with very little education, a speech problem, he could not read or write, yet he is now worth close to a million dollars.

You might ask, How did he accomplish this?

Every Life Is a Story That Deserves to Be Told is a book that will take you on a journey from the 1940s to the current day. Join Harold in the true story of his life. In order to fully understand how he got where he is today, you must first see where he has been. Each story in this book is memorable; some of these stories will make you laugh, while others may make you cry. This book truly encompasses everyday life and the ups and downs that go along with it. It is an inspiring look at life, love, and overcoming the challenges each of us must face. It is a book for those who never give up and never back down, and also for those who believe that life is a gift that should not be squandered or wasted. These stories will resonate with all readers. Readers crave something tangible and realsomething that leaves an impression long after the pages are read and the cover is closed. This is that type of book!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 11, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477131145

Harold Isbell

Harold Isbell is a retired machinist. He enjoys spending time with his children and grandchildren. Harold spends his days on his family farm, where he enjoys raising cattle. His hobbies include fishing, taking walks through the mountain, hunting with his family, telling stories, and being a comedian. This is Harold’s first literary work. Harold is down-to-earth and simple in many ways. His love of life and love for others is contagious. He is just a person whom people love to be around.

Book preview

Copyright © 2012 by Harold Isbell.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2012911009

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4771-3113-8

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4771-3112-1

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4771-3114-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

115810

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part One

Life Begins

The Outhouse

Boys Will Be Boys

On the Farm

Living on the Land

Dirty Laundry

Buggy Business

Southern Fried Chicken

Fashion Sense

A Day with Pap

Swept Away

Pillow Talk

A Mother’s Work Is Never Done

Come and Get It!

Makin’ Bacon

When You Know Your HOT!

Beans and Cornbread

Our First Refrigerator

Kuntry Stoe

Our First Television

My First Taste of Light Bread

What Not to Do When Squirrel Hunting

The Days of Summer

How’s It Hanging

Wintertime Woes

From the Watermelon Patch

to the Briar Patch

My First Movie Adventure

The Wooden Teeth

The Cat’s Meow

The Lessons of Life

My Short but Illustrious Rodeo Career… Ride ’Em Cowboy!

The Day I Met the Little Green Men

Country Eggs… No Thanks!

First Time I Ever Shot a Gun

My First Bicycle

Coon Hunting

A Farmer’s Work Is Never Done

Part Two

Spending Money

Risky Business

Me and Hoopie

Medicine for Mama

Gas Money

Pimp My Ride

The Trouble with Women Is…

My Ma’s Brother

My Grandpa on My Daddy’s Side

Who Says Horses Aren’t Dangerous?

Dating 101

White Lightning

The Drag Queen

Daddy’s Promise

Part Three

In Mary’s Words

Mary’s First Pair of Pants

Part Four

NewlyWeds

Our First Christmas as a Married Couple

Our First Place

Ketchup Anyone?

Our First Child Is Born

Our Growing Family

Sneaky Snake

Loads of Laundry

Christmas Chaos

Water Works

Electricity Can Be Expensive

We Can Handle It!

Making the Best of Things

Pool Shark

My Career as a Construction Worker

Making a Living

Taking Care of our Children

Now Let Me Tell You about

One of Our Neighbors

Wildcat Trouble

Jail Birds

Campfire Memories

I Fixed Them!

Our First Family Vacation

EGG O’ MITE—

Next Best Thing to Dynamite

Jury Duty

Little Man

My Dear Friend Don

Going South

Shaw Shenanagins

Death Row

Gifts From God

I Can Take a Licking and Keep on Ticking

You Do What You Got to Do

What’s Going On Here

He’s Worth Alot More to Me Dead Than Alive

This Little Piggy

The Trouble With In-Laws

Begging and Pleading

My Wild Ways

Baby Deer

Do You Have the Time?

A Family Affair

Pulling Pigs

Baby Calves

What A Dump

Tune It In

Getting Back to the Basics in Life

When You Got as Many Kinfolks as I Do, You Really Don’t Need Anymore

Ants in Your Pants

My Grandson Shoots an Eight-Point Doe?

The Rounder

I Act Like My Daddy

I CAN Learn to Read and Write!

One Pair of Glasses is Enough For Any Family

Not an Outside Kind of Girl

Taking It Off Road

The First Treadmill for Cows

I Can’t Deal With You

My Pet Cow

Whatever Works

Rotten Banana

More Work than Fun

I Gave That Deer a Heart Attack

Registered Boar

My First Tractor

The Blossoming Isbell Clan

Our Family Remains Close

Every Family Experiences Tragedy and Loss

Tender Hearted Kid

Mary Would Cry for Days

Bug

Cocoa

Black Panther

Part Five

He’s Just Not Through With Me Yet

Driving Miss Daisy

Moon Pie

Where’s My Teeth?

My Alaskan Fishing Trip

My Close Call with Death

I Never Expected You to Make it to Nashville

Are Yall Part of The Show?

April Fools Day

Author Biography

Stories written by Harold Isbell.

However, some are through Mary’s, his wife, eyes.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the following people for making a difference in my life:

Mary, my wife, for providing me with unconditional love, support, and encouragement. Without her influence and companionship, none of this would have been possible.

Eddie Scharber-Eddie was a patient tutor and dear friend who taught me how to read and write.

John Bruner who also helped tutor me and is a very good friend to this day.

Ray Keith for being such a good friend to me for so many years.

My Daughter-In-Law, Misty K. Isbell, without her this book would not have been possible.

And Shaw Carpet Mill, which is owned by Warren Buffett, where I was lucky to be employed for thirty-seven and a half years.

Introduction

image2.jpg

S ince the day I was born, I have faced many challenges—challenges that could have broken my spirit and ultimately determined my fate. I was born one of fourteen children, and life was hard for my family. We all had to work for every dime we had. Life back then was not as people have become accustomed to today.

You see, I grew up poor and with very little education. On top of that, I have had a speech problem all my life. Trust me when I say, there is nothing worse than being made fun of all the time because you can’t speak properly. But I was tough and determined to make something of my life. I have never backed down from a fight, and I am not about to start now.

Have you ever looked back on your life and wondered where all the time went or wondered if you lived your life to the fullest extent possible? If someone were to tell the story of your life, what would they say? Every life is made up of moments. Some of these moments may have made you laugh, while others may have made you cry. But it is within these moments that you find you truly lived. This collection of short stories is about moments of my life. Every story that I share with you is true and actually happened. Some of these stories are positive, and yet some are not so positive. But you see, that is the nature of the truth.

Some may ask why I chose to share this collection of stories with you. One of my motivators, of course, was to leave a legacy for my family. But that is not the only motivation behind this endeavor. My sincere hope is that someone will be touched by my words or that someone’s life may be changed for the better. If you don’t take anything away from this, I hope you take this. No matter where you are in your life, the future is always up to you. You and you alone shape who you become and what direction your life takes. No matter what obstacles lie in your path, with hard work and perseverance, you can overcome absolutely anything.

I invite you now to share in my story.

Part One

image3.jpg

Early Life

Life Begins

M y name is Harold Isbell. I came kicking and screaming into this world on the twelfth of November the year of 1943. My parents were Loyd and Bessie Isbell. I am one of fourteen children. I was born right after the Great Depression ended and nearly starved to death. They say I couldn’t keep cow’s milk down—I would throw it up. Mama didn’t have enough of her own milk for me. So they tried me on goat’s milk, and it worked. Maybe the goat’s milk was why I was the strongest of all the kids. Not only did I almost starve to death as an infant, but I also had a speech problem that would haunt me forever. People made fun of the way I talked and laughed at me. I have pretty much been made fun of all my life. When I started school, they made fun of me. School was a constant battle. One day, I might get beat up by kids who would make fun of me. The next day though, I might beat up some kids who were making fun of me. Every day was a battle. It had been a fight all my life. I didn’t get much education at all because we had to work on the farm. I got to go to school maybe three months out of the year. When I did get to go, the other kids were so much ahead in the books; I couldn’t catch up. By the third grade, I had quit school. Daddy needed me on the farm. I think families had so many kids back then because the more kids you had, the more hands you had to work the farm. Or maybe there were just too many bad winters (ha-ha). I had seven sisters and six brothers. One brother died from crib death at three months old. Back when Mama was going to give birth, they would send us to the neighbor’s house. When we came back, there would be a baby crying, and we wondered where that had come from. Then we would say, Oh no, not again. But as kids keep coming, we just kept working.

The Outhouse

image4.jpg

B ack in those days, you didn’t have inside bathrooms. You had what they called an outhouse. The outhouse had to be movable, so when the hole was full, you would hook the horses to it and pull it to a new spot. We would have to dig holes in the hillside to place the outhouse over. You would use the dirt you removed from the new hole to fill the old holes in. We had so many kids, my daddy built a three-seater—one for small kids, one for medium kids, and one for adults. We thought we were in high cotton because we had a three-seater, and everyone else we knew only had a one- or two-seater. Needless to say, it did not take long for that little ridge on the hill to fill up. Seemed like it was moved every three to four weeks. I remember years and years later, my parents were talking about installing an inside toilet. My dad was completely against it. He said, You start eating and messing in the same house, and I’m moving out.

The first time I saw a car…

B ack when I was around five years old, my older brother and I were in the woods with a kerosene lantern, hunting. All of a sudden, we saw two big yellow eyes in the woods, and they were moving all around. We thought it was a monster. It headed toward our house, and we figured we better try to beat it to the house to warn Mama and Daddy. When we got to the house, my dad explained, What you saw was just the doctor’s car. He was driving a bug-eyed car, and that was the first time we ever saw an automobile. We were amazed. And of course, the doctor was there birthing another baby. But we had never got a baby like that before. We would usually would just leave and come back, and the new baby would be there.

image6.jpgimage7.jpg

Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go;

they merely determine where you start.

—Nido Qubein

school%20days.jpg

I can remember what little we got to go to school. We had to walk about a mile to catch the bus. They had nailed some old tin up on some post for us to stand under while waiting on the bus to arrive. We carried our lunch every day to school in a metal bucket with a lid on it. We mostly carried biscuits and mustard. On days we were lucky, we would get fried potatoes and biscuits. Now, remember biscuits and mustard because it will come up again later in the story.

image8.jpg

Boys Will Be Boys

M y dad’s sister and her husband would travel from

Ringgold, Georgia, and come to stay with us for two weeks at a time. We always dreaded to see them come to visit. My aunt’s husband had only one eye, and he was a hateful old man, and my aunt wasn’t much better. To make matters worse, they always brought their son with them when they came to visit. He was such a big sissy; he would never play with us boys. He just wasn’t anything like us. I guess you could contribute some of it to the fact that he grew up in town, and we were just wild country kids. One of their visits was more memorable than the others. I was probably eight or nine years old. We finally talked my sissified cousin into playing with us. We took him into the woods. We came across a grease gun Dad had left behind from where he had been working on some farm equipment. I don’t remember which one of us had the idea first, but we held him down, pulled down his pants, and greased his balls good. He ran to the house crying like a baby to his mama and daddy. That is one time that I remember my dad tore us up good. After that, they left, and we hoped they never came back. If someone had greased my balls, I certainly would not go back for a second helping.

image9.jpg

On the Farm

I remember when my dad cut hay with a horse mower. They called it a sickle mower. He would rake hay with a horse and