Chapter 12 – Charles Phillip Chillton II – “Chill”

Happy Good Morning to you and welcome to my Monday Blog – You know I love it!!

Most times when I first start blogging on Monday mornings, I’m so filled with events or experiences which took place over the weekend, that I find it’s hard for me to focus on the job at hand. I want to tell you all about what happened over the weekend and/or my kids, the grandchildren, my incredible this, or my awesome that, you know what I mean. I guess I’ll just have to leave it at that for now and come back here mid-week or so and do my braggin’.

Okay, except for these two little things: my youngest granddaughter, Bridget (5), told her Mommy (my daughter), that “grandma is very funny, but PaPa is reeeeally funny”..so now I’ve got to work on getting funnier; but then, yesterday, as I was hanging upside down on the jungle gym with my middle granddaughter, Lily (7), she said “grandma, you’re the funniest grandma I know”…so there!!

This week in “That Melvin Bray”, we get more than a glance at Maggie’s Daddy –

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Excerpts & Thoughts:

Chapter 12 – Charles Phillip Chillton II – “Chill” –

“I think it must be written somewhere, that the virtues of mothers shall be visited on their children, as well as the sins of their fathers.” – Charles Dickens

“CHARLES PHILLIP CHILLTON II had many names, depending on who was talkin’ about him.
Mother called him Charles—if he was sober.
Lu called him Dr. Jekyll if he was sober and Mr. Hyde if he if was drinking.
Lee called him Monster—sober or not.
The rest of us kids just called him Daddy.
Aunt Lucy referred to him as “your daddy,” as in “Have you seen or heard from your daddy?”

Everyone else, including his siblings, referred to him as “Chill-Out”.
Growing up he had been intense, easily distracted, and always in a hurry. He
couldn’t seem to ground himself and had no inclination toward self-discipline.

As time went by though, he would be known simply as Chill. He was the oldest of seven children—three boys and four girls. He was named after his father, who was a minister. Yeah, hard to believe that, huh?

His younger brothers, Weston and Harrison also became ministers when they grew up. Granddaddy Chillton probably wondered where he had gone wrong when it came to Chill, but I say two out of three ain’t bad, right?

Sometimes, though, the preacher’s kids could turn out to be the wildest—like Buddy Allred in high school. That boy was just full of I don’t know what, but he was full of it!

Granddaddy and Grandma Chillton were kind, gentle folks of modest means. Like Grandma O’Malley, Grandma Chillton died before I was a year old, so I had no memories of her either, but Mother spoke of her often and loved her very much.

Daddy was the black sheep of the family. He was reckless and impetuous early on and wouldn’t listen to anyone. He was movie-star handsome and confident. I think his looks went to his head, along with the alcohol, of course. Granddaddy Chillton always told him that the good Lord had really blessed him, but he was too arrogant to appreciate it. Humility was not Daddy’s strong suit, but Mother had enough for both of the of them, unfortunately.

When my parents met, Mother was only seventeen and he was almost nineteen. She was captivated by him and she fell madly in love with him. They married within the year and a year later, Lu was born. They were just young, in love and in desperate need of a change in their lives.

Aunt Lucy begged Mother not to marry Daddy, but it was no use, so Mother insisted Aunt Lucy come and live with them once they were married and settled. Aunt Lucy agreed at the time, for Mother’s sake, but changed her mind later, saying she felt she needed to stay with Papa.

The truth was that there was no way Aunt Lucy was going to live in the same house with Daddy. On a soul level, she knew him, but it would a long time and several children later before Mother would know him.

Daddy joined the army right away and was gone only two years. The word was that he was given a medical discharge, but it was probably a typo and should have been a mental discharge. Sadly, those two years while he was gone, were probably the best years of their marriage.

Of course, Mother had gotten busy right away having babies. I was the sixth baby and still an infant when Mother first went to work in the textile mill. Until then, Daddy was the breadwinner, if you could call it that, but all that changed when Mother got a job, leaving six children at home, including a six-month-old baby—me.

It was at that time when dear Lu would start her new job as surrogate mother. That was probably why Lu and I were always so close. She really had to step in for Mother with me at six months, and she truly was a surrogate mother to me.

Once Mother had a job with a paycheck, Daddy took full advantage of the situation—and her absence. Yeah, he was an alcoholic most of he time, and she was absent most of the time. Daddy’s philosophy was filled with presumption and delusion and his reign of terror became scarier for the Chillton kids once Mother jot a job.

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As I revisit these chapters each week, of course it takes me back to a very sad time in my life, and now and then, I’ll hit a few lows as I write the words; however, upon finishing the book last year, thank the good Lord, He has shown me the way to truly live my precious gift of Life better, and how to use my past as a tool for doing just that. One of the ways I accomplish this, is that I focus on living ONE DAY At A TIME…

“But see first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. ” – Matthew 6:33-34

I’m siting here with my “Life is Good” hat on…and Life IS good. Hallelujah!!

Next week, Chapter 13—A Good Mourning
“Hope says to us constantly, ‘Go on, go on,’ and leads us to the grave.”
—Francoise de Mainenon, Frence queen

Until then, here’s me, wishing you an incredible week in every way possible and I pray You and your Life will be an inspiration to all those you encounter along your way.

GOD is Good. GOD is Great!!

Love,
Margaret

“Your Life is your message to the world. Make sure it’s inspiring.”
(Love & Life)

“Smiling for someone is sweet, but MAKING someone smile is the BEST!”
(Women of Christ)