Old Man Plugins and His Big Ol' Shade Tree

They called my daddy, "Old Man Plugins" because he kept 'plugging along." When he made up his mind about something, he didn't quit. He was an old man when I was born but he taught me how to do the same thing...keep on going. He taught me to have faith and believe in my dreams, even when nobody else did. Daddy showed me by his example. He grew a tree that we all thought was impossible. This is my story about my daddy.

“Whew, it’s hotter than tarnation out here today and beads of sweat are pouring down your little faces,” said Old Man Plugins. “Come on Jody and Deloris, let’s get you in the house cause there ain’t no shade our here in sight.” Off we ran with my daddy. Getting inside as quickly as possible.

“Daddy, it’s so hot. Can we have a glass of Lemonade?” “Sure baby, I’m going to make a big pitcher of it for you and your brother right now to help cool you off.”

Daddy took down the big glass pitcher from the kitchen cabinet and sliced the lemons to put in it, along with sugar, water, and ice cubes. He stirred it vigorously with the large wooden spoon and poured us a tall glass.

That Lemonade was refreshing, and we drank it down quickly and asked for a refill. He gave it to us. “Thank you, daddy,” we both chimed in, “This lemonade tastes so good. We’re feeling better too!”

“I’m so glad,” he said. “Why, what we need out there in our backyard is a shade tree. A tree that the two of you can play under when the sun comes out. Yes! A big ol' shade tree would be great. When neighbors come to visit, we can sit under its shade on days like this, and even when it rains, people in the neighborhood can stand under it for protection, if they want. “

Sure enough, days later, Old Man Plugins came home with a stick and proudly proclaimed, “Look what I have! This is going to be a big ol’ shade tree one day!”

My brother, and I started to laugh, “Oh, daddy, that ain’t nothing but a stick.” My mother started laughing too. “Plugins, you are such a dreamer. Now you know good and well, that ain’t nothing but a stick. It will never become a tree!”

Daddy didn’t listen. Instead, he went out in the backyard and pushed the stick down in the middle of the ground. With a big smile on his face, he said, “My dear family, you’ll see, one day this is going to be a big ol’ shade tree in our backyard.”

Every day, daddy looked out of the window at the stick, visualized it growing and sent it his love. With a twinkle in his eye, he’d say to me, “my little ‘Red Bird,’ one day you’re going to see a great big ol’ shade tree out there in our backyard and it will be full of branches and leaves in the summertime, so everybody can sit under it in the shade.”

Pretty soon, the word spread throughout the neighborhood about the stick my daddy had put down in the middle of our yard. The neighbors laughed and even the kids pointed their fingers at it as they passed by. “Ha-ha! There goes Old Man Plugin’s stick that he thinks will become a shade tree. My mama and daddy said that’s impossible!”

Daddy heard the neighbor’s gossip, but it didn’t bother him. He just kept on smiling and believing that his dream would come true.

One day, he told me that’s why his nickname was ‘Plugins.’ “All my life,” he said, “I’ve been plugging along to achieve what others said I couldn’t. Growing up in the hills of West Virginia, I learned how to take a little bit of nothing and make something out of it. I learned to have faith. You can do the same thing. Never give up on something your heart really wants you to do. Just believe and keep at it. Keep plugging along.” Daddy’s advice stayed with me my whole life as a blessing.

Growing this stick into a tree was no different for him. He didn’t care what others said because he had faith that it would happen.

Repeatedly, I’d watch my daddy, with his childlike spirit, go out in the backyard and tenderly touch that stick as he walked around it to tromp the dirt down. I’d listen to him praising and talking to it with words of love and encouragement too. Many of our neighbors thought he was crazy, but I never did. Watching his strong faith in action, helped me to developed mine.

All summer long he followed his routine. Then fall came and soon, winter. Daddy went out and covered the stick with a burlap bag to keep it safe from the snow. He also put mesh chicken wire around it, to keep the animals away.

Time passed on and soon spring came again. This time, daddy went out and took the bag off the stick to have a look, but nothing had happened. He kept on believing and sending it his love. He kept on plugging along.

Then summer came and it was in the month of June that I heard him out in the back yard one morning. He was hollering with glee.

“Yippee,” he said, “she’s a sprouting. she’s a sprouting!” “Our big ol’ shade tree has started to sprout.”

Mama, my brother, and l ran out to have a look. Why that stick had little green sprouts coming out of it. “Yea,” we all shouted as we grabbed each other jumping up and down, “its growing, its growing, Ha-ha! Daddy’s stick is growing.”

We were all so happy to see this happening before our very eyes. Daddy always believed it would and now here it was. The neighbors came to have a look too. They all said, “It was a Miracle!”

From that day forward, the tree continued to grow until it became a big Oak tree with long, powerful branches and bright, green leaves. The neighborhood children came to play under its shade during the heat of the day, and sometimes the neighbors would sit under it in their lawn chairs, to enjoy the sunny afternoon.

That big ol’ shade tree became a comfort not only in the heat of the day, but also as protection during a heavy downpour of rain for neighbors and friends. Through the years, everyone came to love that magnificent ol’ shade tree and to honor Old Man Pluggins for his simple faith to grow it.

Years passed on, until one fateful day, everyone had to move away, and the neighborhood was torn down. It was declared an area for eminent domain, and, in its place, the West Virginia Turnpike was built.

Old Man Plugins is gone too. He made his transition, but his spirit lives on with his tree.

They say that if you’re speeding along that part of the new highway and you look to your right, you’ll see a rest area into which you can pull. It is marked with a sign in bright, bold, green letters that says, “Big Ol’ Shade Tree.”

When you pull in, you’ll see it standing there in all its glory. There is a picnic table under it too. It continues to give shade to thousands of weary travelers during the heat of the day. If you’re fortunate enough to rest under it, just pause to remember the man who grew it from a stick.

He was a West Virginia Hillbilly that I’m proud to say, was my daddy. He was a dreamer whose faith taught him that all things were possible. They called him, Old Man Plugins and that Big Ol’ Shade Tree was his dream. A dream I watched come true.