#i do wish i could go back to being 21 at the sawmill. i was fucking going through it when i worked there
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i applied for this job (that i feel a little overqualified for. it isn’t work i’ve specifically done before but i’ve done enough that is similar & have kept a comparable job for years & also it’s listed as entry level with pretty low pay) and i got an email that i didn’t even get an interview
#finding work that doesnt force you to compromise on values is hard#and its wild! i have a lot of relevant experience and meet all their qualifications and nearly all of their additional desired ones#i guess it wasnt meant to be but woof#i applied for something else i think id be really good at but i have way less relevant experience so tbh im expecting rejection there but#thought it would be good experience#jobs are weird. i think there is a world i have a career and i am extremely passionate and good at what i do#i like being able to take pride in work#but like. i really have yet to find that in work i'm not making for myself#i do wish i could go back to being 21 at the sawmill. i was fucking going through it when i worked there#and if i wasnt going thru a breakup and deep in grief and the menagerie of bad habits id picked up i think i wouldve excelled#but yknow i got a lot of chances and learned a lot and i look back fondly. really couldnt have had a better boss there NGL...just wish id#done a little better yknow?#we didnt vibe politically but we really got along otherwise and i think we shared the same values for work and craft and stuff and id love#to find that again
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Gaye Taylor: A good neighbor and a good, good soul
Gaye Taylor
By JERRY LANKFORD
Record Editor
Gaye Taylor and my mother were best friends – like the Golden Girls of Kite Road in Millers Creek.
When my momma, Willa Mae McNeil Lankford, was still able to get around and drive, she and Gaye would go places together, mostly just to the grocery store or Walmart or somewhere else in town.
The two of them would sit and talk for hours on end. Their conversations involved anything from what they read in the paper, to folks they mutually knew, to our families or their health issues. Like the quote from Forrest Gump – which was one of Momma’s favorite movies – they were “like peas and carrots.”
We lost Edra Gaye Taylor, 91, last Thursday afternoon, March 21, 2019. Gaye had outlived my mother by 10 years and 37 days. She was five days shy of being one year younger than Momma.
Gaye had been sick for a while, according to her daughter, Lisa Taylor Dyer. I had moved from our home ridge about nine months ago and hadn’t kept up with much around my old home place since then. I was saddened deeply when I learned last week that Gaye’s health was so poor.
Recently, The Record ran a pair of photos from Gaye and her husband, Jack’s, anniversary. They had been married 75 years in December. One of the photos showed them as a new couple, posed in a hug somewhere likely near their former homes up in Ashe County. They looked so very young.
After Lisa had brought in the photos and informed me of the severity of Gaye’s sickness, she agreed to keep me updated. And she did. It was on Thursday afternoon last week that I received that most saddening of correspondences.
It stated simply: “Mom just passed.”
I’ve been trying to recall my first memory of Jack and Gaye, my lifelong neighbors. I was, I think, a preschooler, when they built their nice brick home across the road from us. Back then, Kite Road was a gravel dust bowl. I found some vague recollection somewhere in the back of my mind having something to do with the Taylors and tomatoes - therefore it had to have been in the summertime.
Jack has always grown beautiful, delicious tomatoes and, like Bob and Sue Deal – who are also beloved neighbors - Jack was always glad to share the bounty.
Gaye was a homemaker. Jack had, as far as I know, always had jobs at sawmills – doing real men’s work.
I also recall Gaye checking on me at times when I was home sick from school when Momma had to go to work – that was after my daddy, Sammie Lankford, died in 1977.
And Lord, Gaye and Jack loved their daughter, Lisa. From the minute she arrived on this earth, that girl was the absolute apple of their eyes. Lisa was a super smart student, accomplished pianist and went on to college. She has worked in the healthcare field her entire life. In the last several years, she and her husband, Joey, had been more than diligent in keeping check on Lisa’s parents. And, Joey has helped keep Jack’s yard as beautifully perfect as it has always been.
Looking further back in the years, Gaye also babysat my oldest daughters, Jennifer and Anna. Among the other children she kept was my friend, Lane Dyer and wife, Myong’s, daughter, Gloria. All those kids loved Gaye. It was like getting to stay at home – like a daycare ran by their grandmother.
Gaye also loved music, particularly old hymns and old-time mountain songs. I’d play the banjo for her sometimes and, bless her heart, it seemed to make her happy.
But, what I’ll remember most about Gaye is how kind and caring she was toward my mother. Those two women truly loved each other – it was never made more apparent than after Momma’s passing in February 2009. Gaye was simply devastated by the loss. Momma would have felt the same had the roles been reversed.
Gaye Taylor is now with God, and therefore, I say, is doubtless back in the company of loved ones who have passed before her. Those angels include my mother. I wish I could see the delight on those two old friends’ faces at their reuniting. They have some catching up to do.
To Lisa, Jack and Joey, I can only say that my heart is broken for your loss.
Gaye Taylor was a good woman and a good neighbor. Gaye was good to me and mine, and therefore was part of my family.
And, the memories we have of her will always be good.
Edra Gaye Taylor
Born Nov. 4, 1927 – Died March 21, 2019
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