Cousin Wayne Sayings
“Eat it up, wear it out; make it do, or go without.”
“When I look in the mirror in the morning and see someone looking back at me, I figure the day’s off to a good start.”
“I live two suits of underwear too far north.”
On a dark and dreary day, he’d say: “I figure the sun’s shining on someone, somewhere—just wait your turn, and you’ll see it again.”
“You don’t want to work too fast. You might run out of things to do.”
“The worst thing that ever happened was when they came up with car insurance—before that, people drove carefully. They couldn’t afford to wreck their cars.”
“You don’t want to let things lay too quiet. Life’s more interesting when you stir things up now and then.”
“Enjoy today, because tomorrow might be worse.
“Ain’t no use getting upset with life. You’re stuck with what you got, so enjoy it.”
“Don’t worry about getting things done today. Put it off until tomorrow—and if tomorrow never comes, you’ll not have to worry about it at all.”
“Find a way to enjoy what you’re doing. Life’s a lot pleasanter that way.”
“You don’t want to have too much money. It just gives you one more thing to worry about.”
I’d sometimes join Wayne and Elvira for a meal with family members. Some of them were persnickety eaters, leaving much food on their plates, whereas Wayne and I would eat everything down to the plate’s shine. Wayne would complain about those family members, saying, “They got used to to eating too high on the hog.”
Wayne lived alone in his small trailer during the last few years of his life. All of his close friends and his sisters, Genane and Barb, and their husbands were gone. Wayne would tell me, “I’m sure glad that Elvira went first. She couldn’t have stood living without family and friends.”
When Wayne, Elvira, Barb, Marvin, and Genane were still alive, they’d frequently come together, and sometimes I’d join them. Those were some of the most enjoyable evenings of my last years. We’d reminisce while playing cutthroat games of six-handed euchre.
Moments before Wayne died, his son, Terry, called me on the telephone. Wayne murmured a heartfelt goodbye, and I told him I loved him.
Although he didn’t say it, I’m sure he had in mind what he was thinking the day he told me that he was glad Elvira went first: “You don’t want to leave your world. But when your world leaves you, it’s time to follow.”
