Garrett Corners

My face turned beet-red. I couldn’t breathe, my body crushed by 900lbs of dead weight. I tried to hold my head up. I didn’t know, when I bent my neck, I was shoving a bone directly into the part of the brain controlling breathing, your heart beat, etc. But God rescued me…

We thought it was great fun at our college in the 80s, for guys to suddenly burst into a room, tackle another guy, & pile on top of him, yelling “Buck-Buck!!!” We did our best to imitate pro-wrestler dives, leaping from chairs, stacking bodies ten or more high. Although only 120lbs, I still wasn’t deterred from piling on in the fun. In fact, I usually started it. But one day, a bunch of my best friends (Tim Henley, Ben Denny, Lance Perry, George Husk, Steve Rothgeb, I think…maybe more) screamed “Buck-Buck” & I suddenly found myself pinned under all that weight.

Three years later, I found out a malformed bone in my neck was compressing my brainstem my entire life. By age 25, the left side of my brainstem was “kinked” from it. Any sudden neck movement could have made it pierce my brainstem. I also discovered the “double-joints” I had as a kid were really an insidious form of hyperflexibility affecting everything from my heart to all my joints & ligaments, including those in my neck & in my rib cage.

With all that weight squashing me, the brain problem & my ligaments being so loose, I should have died, right then & there, at the bottom of the buck-buck pile. The ligaments in my ribs should have given way & punctured my lungs & my rib cage collapsed. The bone should have stabbed into my brain, killing me instantly. I should have died, really.

But the Lord met me. Tim Henley (later my Best Man) happened to be directly on top of me. As I was about to pass out, he heard me gasping the words “Can’t breathe!” He pushed all that weight off me & hollered for all the guys to get off. They moved fast. After a few deep breathes, I was okay, heart still ticking. But in light of what I know now, I should have died. I am so glad I didn’t die! Besides the fact that it would not have been in my best interest, these were all great friends & my death by buck-buck would have scarred them for life. That day, the Lord met all of us, there at the bottom of the buck-buck, & we didn’t even know it.

Genesis 28:16-17 Jacob woke up from his sleep. He said, “GOD is in this place—truly. And I didn’t even know it!” He was terrified. He whispered in awe, “Incredible. Wonderful. Holy. This is God’s House. This is the Gate of Heaven.”

I’ve been a very blessed man. Many men & women, throughout my life to this day, have invested, sacrificed & poured out their lives for me. They taught me about life. These are my heroes. And the earliest hero I can remember is my Dad. When I was a little guy, I thought he could fix anything! When I first started talking, I looked at the crescent moon one night & said “Moon broke, Daddy fix.” As a teenager, I wasn’t close to him, but that all changed dramatically when I was 25 & had double meningitis & brain surgery. He sat by my bedside during my 6 week hospital stay at Nashville’s St. Thomas. Although not a man given to openly praying & showing emotion, he took my hand & prayed for me. Floyd White Garrett, my Dad, died 10 years ago last June. I still miss him. (the picture is of my brother, Tim (probably 3 or 4), my Dad, & me, Jeff, probably 5 or 6)

Maybe “Vitales ‘N Da House!” is a better name. Carol’s brother, John, his wife, Tammy, and their family came down for a visit a short while back. We had a great time together. Carol & I were taking pictures that day & I decided that rather than posting the photos, I would make this 4 or 5 minute video (by the way, if anyone wants any of the scenes from the video, I have them in high quality jpgs.)

A good friend of mine from college, Doug Renalds, surely still a wizened & distinguished feller, once held a great party on or near the greatest of all holidays, Groundhog Day. He had some crazy name for it like the one I used above…all I remember was he used the word “gala” in it.

Flash forward 26 years to 2009. I’m not sure if Doug still celebrates a gala party around Groundhog Day, but Carol & I had the honor of being part of a celebration our church had, just days before G.H. Day in late January.

Our church celebrated the ten year anniversary of our Pastor, Judy West. She is a great lady who does great things in Christ for His people. She has surely blessed Carol & I; in fact, we might not be married if she had not been in our lives.
Everyone in the church dressed up & secretly met at a restaurant 30 miles away where the Pastor Judy believed she was going for a women’s conference. We all surprised her with feasting, song & testimonies of how she has blessed each of us & I was pleased as punch to be able to shout out how much she meant to me & Carol. Then we presented her with a photo book reflecting on her years being a part of this local body of Christ. The book was very well designed & laid out by our Senior Pastor, James Laero.
You can see the book free here at Pastor Judy’s site, powzoom.com

It is in an adobe .pdf format & you may either download it or save it.

P.S. Some sneaky photographer, Amy Myers (our buddy), snapped this shot of Carol & I together & dressed in our Sunday finest even though it was Saturday night…

P.S.S. In an ironic twist of fate that illustrates the power of the Groundhog, Carol and I live just about an hour away from the Punxsutawney, PA home of that most illustrious of groundhogs, Punxsutawney Phil!!

My sister, Sharon, just sent me a recent picture of my mom, Mildred (center, sitting), and 2 of my aunts on my dad’s side, Lillian & Odell. I’m not sure but I think their combined ages are somewhere near sixty, but of course, what do I know? My dad had 9 brothers & these three queens of orient are…all that is left. They are great women…jewels of the South.

after much neglect, I am remodeling Garrett Corners. You’ll note the photo at the top of the page matches the description of Garrett Corners at the bottom of this page

I just got a new image put up at the top of the page. It’s from the second of three weddings this summer in our church–ours was the first. Our good friend, Amy Myers, took these as we were about to cut a rug (always wanted to do that.)

Not sure if I’ll keep it up there–have some other things in mind that may better look like Garrett Corners.

I’ve been doing some behind-the-scenes work at Garrett Corners. I’ve put up a preliminary site for me regarding some of the work I can do for people. It will expand into more as I go. I’ll be putting that address up soon on here. I’ve also done a site for my lovely wife, Carol, which will be password protected for her to give out and use as she sees fit.

In addition, I’ve developed a media-wiki site (find out what a wiki is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki ) & a content management site, as well as a photo gallery. I hope to use to use one or both of the first two sites to host videos and other content here at Garrett Corners.

I’m also working on a way to let people stay informed of the happenings at Garrett Corners by receiving emails about new news here.

An early attempt at a 3-D Christmas sign at Garrett Corners..needs work.

Scenic Garrett Corners is located just a far piece down the road from Waddell Holler but maybe a little closer to Norwich or Burwood. This charming little village, long a destination of European Skydivers as well as Thimble Craftsmen, is not far near the rusted overturned moonshine still that Dad & Uncle Claude toppled over in their youth (Gee I hope the Franklin Mafia aren’t reading this or have at least forgotten the 75-year old “accident.”)

Nearby Garrett Corners are the booming twin cities of Vandergrift & Waterford, each equal parts metropolis and cow pasture. Just over the Kiskimenitas River lies the grand urban complex known as Leechburg, overlooking the majestic Fall Creek Falls not far from the Atlantic & Lake Erie. Beyond the foothills of the Smokies, you can see the beautiful campus of Carson-Newman Kollege, sitting in the hart uv Jefferson Cit-tay and uv witch I is a proud grajuate to this day.

Garrett Corners is a place of great blessing to its 62 kajillion inhabitants, which includes JeffAndCarol, formerly known as single. This village–tucked away in time & space (but locked in eternity)–is filled with great people, from aerospace machinists, freight clerks, nurses, & programmers to teachers, executives, pastors & elders, who all have been graced by the hand of God. In the heart of Garrett Corners & rising above the clouds stands one of its most beautiful treasures, the people of Grace Community Cathedral. It and places like it (like Brentwood Baptist & The First Church Of The Connecticut Yankee) have made Garrett Corners the National Treasure it is today–as well as earning it an Honorable Mention in the Seven Wonders Of The World contest!

You won’t find many places like Garrett Corners. You gotta come & see it!