#these aren't the grandparents that have the wild shit with the communism and indentured servitude I mentioned before haha

[dootznbootz]

The dumb and sweet story about my Papa

To get around the "Don't drink and drive" in my area back in the day, a lot of people would ride horses to the bars and back home. There was even a "horse parking lot". Horses remembered their way home from town as it was common to go back and forth even when not going barhopping.

This is incredibly dangerous and don't EVER do this but a lot of folks would get drunk and then hop up on their horse and go home that way. Sometimes needing to have their buddies toss them up on their horse, (sometimes having a rope to tie them on. Again very fucking dangerous.) and the horse would usually go back home from memory. Horses want their food and their friends. Ofc, some horses were naughty but this is just what my Papa (grandpa) told me. People usually would plan it out where "Hey, I'm going to get sloshed tonight, can you pull me off of Butch and take me into the house?"

My Papa didn't do this often (his brother did it more) but this is the one story with my grandma.

One late afternoon, my grandma came home from chores to see my Papa on his big, buckskin gelding, Butch, wearing nice clothes, and having a mess of flowers in his lap but swaying. He was drunk. My grandma was so mad at him as "WTF ARE YOU DOING HERE? And why are you drunk?!"

He was slurring and she needed her sister to help her carry him into the house where they tossed him on their couch. She was getting him water and thankfully her parents were pretty chill and let him stay. She was scolding him when he suddenly grabbed her arm and asked "Marry me?". She said "Yeah, sure, whatever. Hold still" and he just flopped back on the couch. She didn't think anything of it as he was drunk.

Ofc, when he woke up he was hungover. But he was still really happy and was telling my grandma that he thinks they should have their wedding in this church as they're more relaxed, that they'll plan a date around the harvest, that he's been fighting his mom for his grandma's ring (My papa and grandma were from different wealth and social classes and his family did NOT like her.) My grandma was confused af. Where did this come from?

"You said yes? I asked you to marry me and you said yes?"

My Papa is a quiet man (sounds like he was incredibly shy in his youth too) and apparently was so nervous about asking my grandma to marry him that he needed "liquid courage" before he went to see her but had too much. :')

He wanted to give her a romantic "prince on horseback". He had flowers too but they fell out of his lap. Apparently, they found a lot of them on the side of their road on the way to her house. While my grandma was a little mad at him, she says how she should've known as she's always been the "talker" between the two of them. They've been together for around 62 years and are still loving.

Side story: I mentioned how my papa's brother did the whole "Ride a horse home when very drunk" often. My Papa was often the guy who would stay up late til he got back... Sometimes my Papa would be mad at him and just toss him into the wheelbarrow that had the mucked-up straw to sleep and then just took care of Butch before heading back into the house. 🤷