Interview with my Grandmother on growing up and learning valuable lessons.

00:02 So my name is Chandler Peeples I'm here with my Blanche Brannen So that's my mom's mom. It is November 24th, and we are just gonna do this great Thanksgiving listen project. That's my first question. How did you and poppy meet?

00:17 On a blind date.

00:21 Really?

00:22 Yeah.

00:22 So did you, like. So who set it up? Or, like, just friends, or did y'all just go and.

00:26 No, we had a blind date, and I went home and told the girl that set us up on the blind date that night I was gonna marry him. We hit it off. From the minute we started talking, it was just like, he knew what I was thinking, and I knew what he was thinking, and our core values were the same, and what we wanted out of life was the same. And we talked. I mean, you gotta remember. We were like, probably not. He was just out of college, and I should have been out of college, But I didn't go to college. So we were. We were 21 and 21 and 24 when we got married. So we were probably 19 and 22 when we started dating, because we'd been dating a couple years when we got married.

01:11 So you didn't know poppy before. So where's. Where's poppy from? Is he not from. I thought he was.

01:15 No, he's from Ludwig, Georgia.

01:17 Okay.

01:17 Which is close to close.

01:19 Okay.

01:19 Hinesville in Savannah.

01:20 Okay. Okay. So I guess the next question is, what was yalls wedding like?

01:28 It was real formal by all standards. It was just like, what? The same wedding we put on for your mama and your aunt Tiffany. Very formal.

01:39 Was it in Fitzgerald?

01:40 Yeah. Okay.

01:41 And so I guess did y'all ever, like, talk about or how long were y'all married before y'all had moments?

01:47 Four years.

01:48 So that's. I guess that's pretty long time Y'all ever think about, like, did you want to wait or did you ready to have kids?

01:54 We wanted to wait. But then when we started trying to have your mama, it took us a while. Okay, so that why. That's why it wound up being four years. We didn't intend for it to be that long. We intended to wait at least two years or so to get our feet on the ground and like that. And I'm a big, big proponent of that. I think you should.

02:12 Mom and dad did that with me. I mean, I think mom and dad were married for a little bit before they had me.

02:16 Yeah, they were. They were. They were married, honestly, about the same length of time. Because there again, you, mom, and Tiffany and I had all talked about that, and I Was like, please just, I want grandchildren. But, you know, get your feet on the ground and establish yourself. And that's what they wanted to do, too.

02:35 Mom and dad are also so busy when they first got with their jobs and stuff like that. I'm not sure having a kid was the smartest thing to do for them once they got married. Cause they're always so busy with work and stuff like that. So what was your, like, initial reaction when you found out you were having Mom? Was it like happy, excited, nervous?

02:52 Over the moon. Over the moon. Happy. I was so happy.

02:55 That's what I figured. But I guess there's always a little bit of nerves. Did you think y'all were ready? I guess y'all been married for a long time.

03:00 Oh, I was ready.

03:01 Yeah.

03:01 I mean, I. That was. I just. I mean, I just. And you'd think being an only child, that I wouldn't have wanted children. A lot of only children don't. But I did. I. I always wanted the child. Or plus, I wanted two. But I wasn't. I was just. I was ready.

03:20 Okay. How far apart are Aunt Tiffany and Mom?

03:23 Like, two years or almost four?

03:25 Almost four. Okay, so they're a little bit. They're a little bit farther apart than me and Lilith.

03:28 Yeah. I almost waited four years between the two of them to have Tiffany.

03:32 Did you ever think about having a third? Or were you done, or you think you were done after Tiffany?

03:35 I did, but my doctor told me that he didn't think that I. Because I had. Had polio and got burned, he didn't think I physically needed to have another baby.

03:43 That makes sense. Did Poppy ever talk about wanting a boy or anything, or was he fine having girls?

03:48 He wanted a boy before your mama was born, but then when Tiffany came along, he just lit up like a rocket, and he said, I'm just as happy with two girls as I could ever be with a boy.

03:59 So the next question is if he.

04:01 Ever didn't feel that way. He never voiced it. He always made up like he was thrilled.

04:06 Well, that's not Poppy, anyway, though. Yeah, he would never say anything.

04:09 Yeah, he'd never tell us.

04:10 Okay, so. So who was. It's not harder to raise. But who was crazy? Your mom or Aunt Tiff growing up?

04:16 Well, your mama had colic the first nine months. And colic is something that makes babies not sleep. They don't eat good. They just upside down pretty much all the time. And that was your mom. And it was hard. It was just really hard on a new mom to have A baby that was like that, and it comes in three, six, nine or 12 months. And your mom went whole nine months being like that. So it was real hard. But then Tiffany came along and she was just perfect. No problems, no nothing. Just feed her, change her and put her to sleep.

04:48 Okay, what about when they were like kids? So like, not like about like me and Lily's age or a little bit younger, like, growing up. How are they. Like, how are their personalities different?

04:59 Just like they are now. Your mom always was in charge and telling Tiffany what to do and when to do it. And Tiffany always followed. See, whatever Candy told her to do, that's what she did.

05:12 So I guess you kind of talked about this a little bit ago, but you think it's harder to raise a kid now or when you were raising mom and aunt.

05:18 Oh, it lots harder now. There's just too much. There's too much going on in the world. I mean, really, there's just too many things I don't want that I don't want to get into because there's a lot of political and a lot of crazy stuff. But it's just. There's just too much meanness in the world today. And you gotta remember that, like I said, I told you a minute ago, we come from small town, rural South Georgia, and everybody knows everybody. And it's just. It's a wonderful way of life. It's not like living in a big town like Birmingham.

05:52 Yeah. So I guess kind of leads to another question. Like, when do you think mom and Aunt Tiff got their first, like, first phones? Or like, first like smartphone or do you think, you know? Or like, were they in college, high school, or.

06:05 Well, you won't remember this, but when you were itty bitty and y'all came to Fitzgerald, you got to digging in what I called the play closet, and you found an old bag phone.

06:15 Okay.

06:16 That was Tiffany's first phone. And your mama had kind of missed that era. She was already in college and Tiffany was in high school. And we got a bag phone. And so she would take that bag phone when she went out on her own at night or whatnot, so she could call us if something happened. But no, phones were not. That wasn't a big deal. I mean, they just. People didn't have them back then.

06:37 It's just like, so different now. You see, like, Lane and Brandon. Brandon's been on that. Brandon's on his iPad since he was like. It's crazy, like, because, like, we. I'm trying. I probably got my first like, cell phone in, like, before sixth grade.

06:52 Exactly, because I went nuts when I found that jump.

06:56 Yeah. Well, like, now it's kind of like you said, like, when auntie used to go out and, like, be able to call you. Now it's kind of important to at least have some sort of, like, communication with your parents and stuff like that.

07:04 Now, the more I think about it now, it's good because you can always call your mom and say, come get me. You know, it's easier.

07:12 Yeah, it's definitely a lot easier to, like, communicate and stuff like that. But also, like, it would be kind of nice to not have to worry about phones and stuff like that. Especially, I bet, like, people always talk about, like, when, like, your grandparents talk about growing up not having phones.

07:23 Oh, yeah.

07:24 So like, even, like, TV and stuff like that. Just a lot more like hanging out and with your friends outside, stuff like that. Right.

07:29 Well, that's it. We know our generation. We grew up outside, riding our bikes and everything till dark. No joke. And then we. You know, you knew that when it got dark, you need to go home if you wasn't already there. But y'all, your mama did say, today we were coming home. We were talking about how you and Lily always like to play outside, you know?

07:49 Yeah. Especially, like, with our old neighbors and stuff like that, because we kind of have, like, that cul de sac, and you, like, knew everyone in that c sac. So we hang out, like, and you're close to your house there. You're not really in any trouble or anything. It's not, like, a major road. But I agree. So do you. Did you, like. Did you ever think about moving away from Fitzgerald? Did you always know you want to stay there?

08:06 Well, when Poppy hired in with General Motors, we moved to Indiana for a year.

08:10 Okay.

08:11 And we lived up there for a year. And then that's when I got pregnant with your mother. And so they said you can either stay up here or go back. And they really wanted him to stay up there. They really, really liked him and liked his work ethics and stuff. But we wanted to go home. I wanted to go home because I wanted to be home, because that was my first baby, and I wanted to be home so my parents could enjoy it. Because, you know, with me being an only child, my daddy was just over the moon.

08:37 Right. You know, Indiana's also a lot different than Fitzgerald as far as, like, weather and stuff go. So I'm sure you didn't really. I'm sure you like Fitzgerald. More of an Indiana gets cold in the Winter.

08:46 Oh, it was miserable. I mean, the snow was up to the windows like that. But we enjoyed it. It was different. We made a lot of lifelong friends. And so, yeah, it was different, but a good different. We enjoyed it.

09:01 So what's the biggest way that you think middle school and high school are different than from when you grew up or going through those?

09:07 Because now, what a kid learns in middle school we didn't even attempt to do until we were in high school. Like, now kids are doing algebra and stuff in middle school, and we didn't do that till we were in high school.

09:22 I do think the curriculum's definitely changed a lot. Oh, I mean, every generation is.

09:27 And, like, even I tell everybody, kids, y'all are just smarter nowadays than we all were.

09:32 Seriously, like, the class I'm doing this for is like an ap. Like a college level class. So, like, taking college level classes in high school and already getting credit is right.

09:40 Well, now your mom and Aunt Tiffany did, too. But now when your mama took them, she didn't get college credits for hers because they just hadn't instilled that yet in our high school. But then when Tiffany got to the cause, there again, there's four years difference in them. When. When Tiffany got in the 11th grade, they had that. And so that it was associated with ABAC over, which is in Tifton, and it's part of the University of Georgia. So she was getting University of Georgia credit for hers. So when she got to Georgia, she was already, like, a quarter ahead.

10:13 That's good. That's. That's the biggest reason I'm taking those classes too. Just kind of, like, get ahead on, like, your hours and stuff like that. You have more time to, like, do stuff your first year, because freshman year is always crazy, trying to figure out whatever it is. And so I guess. Okay, so you and Poppy obviously are big dog people now. Have you. Have you always been like that or just been, like, since you guys got married?

10:36 Well, I had my first dog when I was less than 5 years old, because when I got burned when I was five, that it was a little black cocker spaniel, and two ladies saw me running, and I had caught my clothes on fire because I had set the grass on fire, and that dog ran around circles around me and hit me in my back to knock me down. And they credit her with saving my life because had they not. Had she not done that, and they could have got as much of the clothes off of me as they had. They don't, you know, as bad as I was burned anyway. They don't know how much worse I could have been burned, so.

11:10 So how many. How many dogs have you and Poppy had? The ones I remember. I remember, obviously, Pride.

11:15 Chandler. My Lord. See, Little Bit. There's some in there I can't even remember. But that Little Bit puppy got me another cocker spaniel when we'd been married three weeks, he come bringing that dog home. And then we got butter. And that's the dog that your mama and Aunt Tiffany loved to death. And then, of course, Pride. I'm just naming the ones that we all love so much. And then, of course, you know, Bella now. And then we had Gabby, who. That was part of your mom's graduation gift, which I wound up with. And then she wanted her back after she graduated Georgia, and I wouldn't let her have her because she was going to law school. And then when she finished law school, she wanted her back. And I was like, no, I'll buy you one. So that's why I bought Dixie. And then I got Zoe, and then now I got Sassy. So.

12:08 So I've been curious. What is it with the Yorkies? Do you like Yorkies or what? I love Yorkies.

12:14 I like them because they're itty bitty, and I like them because they just have such a strong personality.

12:19 Yeah. Ye. They are. Yeah.

12:20 They just love everybody. They really do. They love everybody.

12:23 Again, Zoe. I mean, obviously, me and Zoe were, like, the same age.

12:27 Yeah. Really? Because when. When we went to pick Zoe up, you were. I remember I was telling the story yesterday, I was telling Lily about it, that I said, Chandler was, like, five months old, I think, and y'all came home that weekend, and so you and your mama went with us over there to pick her up. And it was so funny because your mama wanted to hold her. And I said, well, I'll swap you, Chandler for.

12:54 So again, we talk about living in Fitzgerald. Do you still have, like, childhood friends that you see often and talk to?

13:00 Oh, yeah, that's the best friends. Your childhood friends, you know, the ones you make a long, long time.

13:05 I feel like it's not as common now to, like, stay in your hometown. I think most people, like, go to college and then move off. But I kind of do want to, like, come back to Vestavia, like, when I graduate college and stuff. Do you really? Because I, like. I think my high school experience has been, like, perfect. Like, I, like. I would want, like, my kids to have, like, the exact same high school experience that I've. Because it's that I Definitely also like this, like, neighborhood and stuff like that. Maybe if I get a job somewhere else. But I like this stadium a lot, being close to Birmingham. So I'm. I think mom has talked about it a little bit. But what were your parents like? So her grandparents.

13:42 Well, I don't know how to say it. My daddy, of course, was a fireman.

13:47 Yeah, that's.

13:48 He was a fireman for 40 years. And my mother worked for a dentist for 30 years. And I was an only child. And there again, it was small town, usa, but they were back then parents, wasn't as involved in your children's life. It's what they are nowadays. And even as involved as I was in your mom and Tiffany's, because I substitute taught for 20 years, I was at school every day where they were and I knew what was going on and who was doing it and where it was at. And that's why I did it, to be honest with you. Cause I wanted to know what they were doing and what was going on. But my parents were very good parents. And you got to think about this. When I got burned, my mama was only 25 years old. She was 20 when she had me. So she was 25 years old. And I was rushed to Atlanta to Georgia Baptist Hospital, and I was in the hospital for a year. So here she is, 25 years old, away from home, and had never lived in a big town.

14:50 Yeah.

14:50 And she'd stay at the hospital with me all day till 10 o'clock at night and get on a bus and ride it all the way out to the other end of Atlanta where my aunt lived, because she was staying with my aunt. Think about it. That's got to be a hard thing for somebody back then. Even back then, even though Atlanta wasn't nearly as big as it is now, but still it was bad because she got. All the bus drivers knew her because she rode the bus every day and they even told her, they said, if you ever fear fearful, you just come up and sit behind us and tap us on the back and we'll take you all the way to the end of the line and bring you back. And she had to do that twice because she was fearful of people. She thought people were thoughtful.

15:32 Yeah, I'm sure the people you see on Those buses at 10 o'clock at night and stuff like that. And.

15:36 Yeah, and her, she was a beautiful lady, really was.

15:40 So I guess you kind of talk about stuff. She's teaching, but do you have like a favorite job that you ever worked? Or was it that I loved substitute.

15:49 I'm not going to lie, because I did it so long. But my favorite job I ever had, which I would never would have thought, but one of our friends came to me one Sunday morning in church and said, I want you to come see me about a job. I need a receptionist, and I think you'd be perfect for the job. I need somebody that knows everybody and somebody who's friendly and yada yada. And I went home, and I told Poppy, I said, I'm not going to do that. He said, I think you should. You might like it. And so I did, and I loved it. It was the best job I ever had because we carried everything that general motors made, and I was receptionist. I sat out front, and I met. Was meeting and greeting and talking and cutting up with everybody, and I just loved it. And you know how crazy I am about cars.

16:30 Well, that and also just, like, you are, like, welcoming and stuff like that. So that would be a good, like, receptionist. Does sound like a good job.

16:36 Yeah.

16:36 Like, to talk and get along with people. Yeah.

16:38 Well, you know me. I like to talk.

16:42 So I guess the last question is, now, I've never. And you start talking about a little bit. But how did poppy get into liking cars and working on them? Cause I know he's got that shop in the back, and he's always doing stuff. Always working on stuff.

16:52 Like, I said, him and your uncle Jeff, they got out in your grandpa Brandon's truck one night acting goofy, and they wrecked it, and they brought it home, and they said, well, what are we gonna do? He said, you're gonna fix it. And he said, I mean, you're gonna fix it. You're not gonna pay to have it fixed. I want you to learn to fix it. So that's when they learned to do bodywork, and. And there was also some mechanical part of it that needed to be fixed. But like I told you, your puppy, he can do all that. He just learned to do it by just experimenting and doing. And they both taught the same. They both wound up with the same teaching degree. And poppy could teach and do what he was teaching, but your uncle Jeff, he can teach it, but he couldn't do it.

17:38 Some people learn different and stuff like that.

17:41 Exactly.

17:41 But, yeah, Poppy's always. He's always working on something back there.

17:44 Well, there's not much he can't do. If it's fixable, he can usually fix it.

17:48 Yeah, I think. I think the first. The car I remember him working on most was that Camaro that he had that was, like, that yellow one. I think I've, like, wanted that at some point, but that's like the.

17:59 Oh, gosh, you do remember. A lot of. You remember that yellow one.

18:01 That's the first. That's the first car I remember, like, actually remember him, like, really working on. Yeah, but. All right, well, thanks for talking to me and helping me out with this.

18:10 Well, I love you and you know it.

18:11 Love you, too.