Carl Maurice Sanders, aka Lefty
August 15, 1929 -- May 18, 2005
Dear Daddy,
Well here you are in the Magnificence Spotlight! I know you just love this, since you have always been a Star! I found this picture of you, me, and Lee, when you were quite young and handsome. (I am the adorable blond in ankle socks.) It is Easter morning, and we are ready for church. You are already tan from the spring planting. I am sure by Easter the cotton, soybeans, and watermelons were planted. The winter piglets were already market size by then. You loved farming the land that had been in your family for generations.
I have so many memories of living on that farm, in the community where I was related to practically every neighbor, and we went to church 3 times a week, except for revival, when we went 7 days! For our birthdays and Halloween, you would load up the wagon with hay, and take all the church kids and cousins on a hay ride through the back fields, down by the Forked Deer River. We’d stop and make a big bonfire and have a hot dog and marshmallow roast. During cotton picking time, you’d let us help. As the big picker dumped cotton in the giant trailer, my job would be to climb up in the basket and push out the cotton. We’d chop cotton too, a crew of cousins and hired hands, counting the rows till we reached the massive oak tree in the middle of the field, where the old hand pump was, and a couple of watermelons were cooling in the shade. In winter, we’d go out on the land hunting for a Christmas tree. You’d shoot the top off a cedar with both barrels of your shotgun. We’d trim it up, and take it home to Mama and decorate.
That is one of the many things I thank you for, Daddy. You brought me into the world close to the Earth, taught me to love the land, to see and feel nature. I remember working in the tomato patch with you at sundown, listening to the stories of your childhood on this very land. You would point out your appreciation of the sky, the light, the colors--simple spoken, you saw and felt it all. The land raised you, and broke your heart.
When I was a teenager, you left the land and took us to Crossville in East Tennessee. A move of economic necessity, and good for us all, I guess. There you discovered talents and pleasures a farmer doesn’t have time for. You became an actor at the Cumberland County Playhouse, playing the SOB Captain in South Pacific (with the now famous Bob Gunton as Emil). My favorite role of yours was Judd, in Oklahoma. (While your body lay in your casket, I kept singing your song “Poor Judd is Daid, a candle lights his haid.” I hope you enjoyed that.)
You also discovered golf! Amazing. I didn’t know farmers were allowed to play golf! You were a pretty good golfer, especially when you discovered you could hit the ball better left-handed. That is when the world started calling you Lefty. Better than your golf score were your adventures on the course. Like that time your ball hit a tree and came sailing back to hit you in the head! And you killed a squirrel once with a bad drive. Or maybe it was a good drive, and an unlucky squirrel. Mostly you played at the many local golf courses, Cumberland County being a big resort and retirement area. But you got a chance to travel and play Pebble Beach and Hilton Head too. This past winter, you bought some new golf clubs, with every intention of using them this summer. You loved golf!
In 1982 you and Mama opened Lefty’s BBQ Restaurant. You started smoking meat in a home made pit that turned out so good that Lee (my brother, pictured above) talked you into opening a restaurant. After the first few hard years, Lefty’s BBQ took off, and became very successful. You had a stage for all your talents: cooking, story telling, jokes, and even a little singing with the old timey dancing doll puppets. Lefty’s and YOU were unique.
I thank you again, Daddy, for a wonderful childhood, for my very life, and my brothers, and for great food, stories, and memories. I thank you for timing things so I could be with you on your last good day, when you were sure you’d beat cancer, and you felt great! I thank you introducing my brothers and me to the doctor. You made it so clear in that moment that your children were the only thing that really counted for you among all your accomplishments. I thank you for the awesome honor of being with you when you took your last breath, and your heart stopped, and so many loving cosmic friends stood by me and escorted you to the other side. I hope you enjoyed that. It sure felt good from where I was standing!
Oh, and by the way, did I tell you that you are Magnificent, because you never quit, and you always did it YOUR way! You old pissaint you!
I will always love you, and I know you have always loved me. We may do this again sometime!
Your daughter,
Carla
Magnificence Diva
Benno-Bear, as this wonderful man iz also known to a lucky few, has long been a secret angel supporter of YouAreMagnificent!com. I hope he agrees with me that honoring him during Magnificent Dad's Month, iz worth "outing" him ;~)
My mother is gentle and kind, she would rather say nothing than selfishly hurt another with unkind words. 
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