Buddy Wayne's diary: My dearly beloved

My main character weighs in with his weekly entry. - D.H.

People wonder how someone who did so much in his previous life - winner of three NASCAR championships, over a dozen Grammy Awards, and admired by millions of people around the world - can be fulfilled in Heaven, a place where the biggest dreams are supposed to come true.

The first short answer is that the clouds of serious sickness and death are lifted forever.  Death was the thing everyone had in common - regardless of race, gender, income, cultural background, or status in life.  It could occur at any moment, and once it did, life was left unfulfilled, hearts were broken, and possessions were left behind.  Jesus Christ offered the promise of eternal life of the soul with His death and resurrection, and events as prophesied in the Book of Revelation extended that to the physical body.

With that comes the promise of never again being separated from the people and things you love.  I can still play my guitar on my front porch every night, and still perform in public on occasion.  It may not be at arenas filled with thousands of people and with millions watching on TV, but it counts nonetheless. 

Best of all, I spend all day, every day of my life with the two most beloved people of my life - my mother Brenda and my brother Bryson.

You've heard the cliché, but it's true about Brenda: Not only is she my mother, she is my best friend.  I've spent the last few days here rediscovering who she is and what she is all about.  I admire even more than ever how he raised me as a single mother with a disability and very little income.  She was an "extreme couponer" before the term was even invented, pinching every penny she could to sustain us.

Brenda is a versatile homemaker.  She makes and designs her own clothes, sews and quilts with unique heartfelt designs, and recently became a dollmaker.

But maybe the best thing about Brenda is her cooking ability.  Her pigmeat [barbequed food] is lovingly made, and her homemade ice cream is the best in the world!  Every night, I look forward to her home cooking and I'm pleased to say that I will want to eat nothing else again.

Words are inadequate to describe how big her heart is and how much she cares for me and others.  Her rewards in Heaven are important and well-deserved.

I've had so much fun with Bryson that I've forgotten about my bad mood after I was separated from Brittany and Blanton Elizabeth.  If Heaven is simply an improved version of our old lives - and everyone says it is - the time I now spend with Bryson is the biggest improvement of all.

Because Bryson died in infancy, he returned to the world with little knowledge of anything, even himself.  That's why what I teach him is so important, as he develops a sense of who he is and begins to articulate his interests and his point of view.  What he learns in the one-room schoolhouse with Miss Shirley Mae Crabtree will add tremendously to what he knows.

What I already know is that he has an infectious personality.  Already, he has contributed a catch phrase to our family.  One day, he just said "Am I a country boy?"  When I told him he was a good country boy, he changed it to "Am I a good country boy?"  He says that all the time.  Oh, and Bryson never takes off his coveralls, even while he's in bed.  I have to bribe him to take them off so he can bathe.:-)

The bottom line is this: My new life with Brenda and Bryson makes me happier than every racing title and every music award I've ever won.  And it's an experience that will never end.