Happenings A Peep in the Mirror Roy Wood Jr. is a retired widower in his 80’s, and he can tell some stories. He shares about his early days courting his wife. He tells stories of divine providence. He tells stories with the same energy the first time as the hundredth time. He is a natural born story teller. Yet it was not until three years ago that he learned that he inherited this natural gift from his father. When Wood was a young man in his early 30s, his father passed away. As Wood tells it, his father married late in life, and by the time he got around As Wood read his father’s words, the joy of the moment bubbled to the surface. to having a family he did not have much time left to spend with them. It was after his father’s death that he was handed a treasure chest disguised as an old box. “The box came to me on its own when my father died,” Wood shared. “It is a lap desk, that’s what it is.” The year was 1959. And what did he do with this old lap desk full of handwritten notes, sheets of printed music, and other penned archives from his father? “I just put it on the shelf,” he responded. It was not until much later in life that the “box” started to be mined for the treasure that was inside. “My granddaughter in-law, down in Mobile, asked if she could take it home with her to look through it. I said sure. After a while she came back to visit and to return the box. She told me I should have a look inside,” Wood recalled. Yet it was not to be. He placed the box back where he always did, on the shelf in his living room without opening it. And there it sat for another two years. It was not until his wife died that he got the desire to really look inside. “After my wife died,” shared Wood, “I was sitting by myself and thought of a song my father used to sing. I thought if he wrote it, he might have it in the box. That is when I was blown away with all the poems, songs, and short stories.” Within a year of opening the box Wood had the mostly handwritten pages typed up and sent off to a Mr. Roy Wood Jr. reading a copy of his father’s writings A Peep in the Mirror. printer for what would become A Peep in the Mirror, a collection of over two dozen poems, hymns, tunes, and short stories written by his father, brother, and even some by himself. When Wood talks of the book he is really grasping at the father he never knew. “My father married my mother in 1925; as far as I can tell he wrote most of these between 1910 and 1920. My mother might never have known about most of these,” he surmised. In the preface to the book Wood writes, “A Peep in the Mirror is a book that had to be, for it is about the dad I had before I knew the dad I had.” Wood opened a copy of the book and turned to a page with one of his favorite poems written by his father. “There Ain’t Nuffin A-Doin” is the name of the poem and he started to read it out loud. As Wood read his father’s words, the joy of the moment bubbled to the surface. Wood laughed aloud at the humorous parts of the poem, calling them comical, and he placed all the right emphasis on all the right elements. Yet with all the polish he reads with, it is as if he was reading it for the very first time. All the joy, all the excitement, all the pleasure of discovering a lost father came out into the open. It can be summed up as the proud love of a son towards his father. Wood is not selling these books, as he said no one could afford them they are so special to him, but he has gifted copies to local libraries and historical societies. To view a copy, visit the <strong>Alabaster</strong> Senior Center, and be sure to read “There Ain’t Nuffin A-Doin.” And try not to smile. Roy Wood Jr. is betting that you can’t. 10 cityofalabaster.com
Easter Drama Christ The Gift Of The Age Join us Easter Weekend: ~Childcare available for babies up to 4 years old during each performance. Friday March 25 7:00 PM Saturday March 26 7:00 PM Sunday March 27 10:30 AM Begins Tuesday, April 5th, 2016 6:30 to 8:00 PM Childcare Provided with reservation A Growing Church within a growing community. 1669 Mission Hills Road <strong>Alabaster</strong>, AL 35007—205-358-8680 www.thebranchatmissionhills.com
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