Tonya and Grandchildren

Tonya Smith

(née Bassham)

and

her Grandkids

Here's another photo in the series that Jimmie Jones sent me. This time, the person caught on camera is one of my oldest friends, Tonya. Just recently in an email, I reminded her of how young we were when we first knew each other:

I was thinking of you the other day and recalled that the first gospel song I ever heard was one you were singing when we were playing together at about 5 years of age. The song was "Do Lord," and the line that captivated me was "way beyond the blue." Those words were a wonder to me because the blue above looked boundless, so anything beyond the blue must be very far away. But that was just a little boy thinking . . .

Tonya responded with humble words about her singing, followed by more anecdotes:

I am sure the song was American Idol worthy. I am such a good vocalist (that is a sarcastic statement for sure). It is so strange what sticks in our minds. My most vivid memory is cooking the crawdads. You had a skillet, butter and "MATCHES". We were quite the chefs. And I remember the day we moved. The most 'tragic' day of our lives. And what? We were 1/2 a mile away. But still very traumatic. The days your cousins came to visit were not good for us either. Mom wouldn't let us go over cuz you guys had 'company'. Oh, the things that we stewed over at such an early age.

I disagreed with her on the singing:

I think all children can sing. Your rendition of "Do Lord" was perfect. It was way beyond the blue!

As are these memories . . .