Who needs the Legend of Wooley's Swamp when you got the Bradwell fence?

We don't need no Charlie Daniels band and their legend of Wooley's swamp cause we've got the old Bradwell fence and a swamp of our own. Just an old beat up road side fence on the Bradwell Unit, right outside Blue Creek on the Tallahassee side. It has been falling down all of my life and half of my mama's! It has been every color from John Deere green to Midnight Blue. Zebra striped, red white and blue, the superman logo has even had a few days of glory, come to think of it, anything you can imagine and some things you can't, have been painted onto that rickety old fence. But paint goes away, it gets covered up and loses it shine. The other things this old fence represents to me and mine will not be tarnished by the tides of time or eroded by the wind and rain. The Hope, Pride, Love, Character, Endurance, Peace, Comfort, Tradition, Kindness, Unity, Bonds, Memories, Laughs, Cries, and Excitement that goes into this fence are not subject to worldly woes. My family started this tradition of painting a "welcome home" message to our returning missionaries when my daddy, Tracy Spikes, returned home from his mission in Scotland in 1981. Ever since that time this has become a thing of legend usually only seen on the movie screen or heard in an old country song. We usually paint "welcome home" and the person's name, something unique to them, and then sign our names in spray paint all around it. The Geiger boys also got a bit of the glory way back in the day, as they too have come home from honorably served missions. In more recent years with our resident artist, Aunt Katrina, we have been able to get a little more creative, Randall's had the John Deere logo on it, Kaleb's the Superman sign and Ellis was written where there should have been an "S", Elijah's had the Browning Buck Head symbol in his Garnet and Gold Alma Mater colors, and I being the only female to make the fence so far had lime green on the sides, with a huge Zebra print back ground, and welcome home Azie written in bright red, just my style! Last night we began the ending of one more coming home, me, and started all over in our well wishes for one more of the Lord's soldiers to hang up his coat, take off that name tag and begin again, a new, changed, even better than before, son of God. As we painted that Dark Hunter green over the Zebra stripes a peaceful feeling surrounded my heart and I was filled with joy. My sweet love, Elder Kale Holcomb, is coming home from his mission tomorrow. We are doing his fence camouflage with "Welcome Home" in Blaze Orange. The crew came out in force, even Trey, Mr. Lovely himself, came and did more than his share of painting. With all the little ones around we got to thinking who the next one would be, and it kinda broke my heart as we realized that it would be Kole. He is only 5! But that means that Kale's legacy will get to live along time on that fence, as a beacon of all things wonderful. Let's hope the thing will stay up that long! Daddy had to repair it to make it stand up for my sign. And you can bet your last dollar that if need be we will just build our very own for Kole man! We ain't above it! We have has so many good experiences wrapped up in the painting of the signs. When Elijah come home, Kole was just a little thing and he warmed our cheeks while we worked in the middle of December. Without fail we get the cars honking on the way by and well wishers stopping in to ask for official return dates of the ones coming home. We even got the State Trooper yesterday asking us what we were up to, which I found hilarious considering it was Kale's sign we were painting! 4 Little ones helped paint yesterday and it was a blast. They all had on their sunglasses and slung paint like the pros! All over us and each other but that is all part of it. We wouldn't have it any other way! Tonight we finish this master piece and will lay our brushes down for a few more years but that will be about all we put down. The hope that old rotten fence breeds is untouchable. Forever it will be in our hearts as we send them all around the world to serve our Father in Heaven. We've been from California to Hawaii, Canada to Equador, Scotland to the Philippines and about 10 places in between. And every single time we came home with honor. That folks, is not only a legend, it is the stuff hearts are made of. It's what we do. It's why we are so proud to be the family that we are.....it don't get much better than that. We love hard and we play hard. We fight for what's ours and what's right. We take the good with the bad, the happy with the sad because we are a family and that's the way we roll. I guess you could say that old beat up tin is worth millions to us. It is our small way of saying, "Come on home, you did good and we will be here waiting on you no matter when you come home, or where you've been". Contrary to popular belief we ain't even no where near close to being perfect. We got our own share of sins as does any bunch as big as mine. But I know who's got my back when the chips are down. I don't even turn around to look. Call it what you want, it is just a old beat up sign but to me it's more welcoming than the Vegas lights to a show girl. It's home. And that really is all that matters. So thank you CDB for the legend of Wooley's swamp but I got a legend that would curl your hair right here in my own backyard. Tomorrow another man comes home where a boy left, another leader comes home where a lost soul once wondered, another hero joins the ranks who did well, and will do right till the very end. Welcome home Elder Holcomb, I am so proud of you, and if you don't believe me, just go look at the fence. Nuf said!

~AzK~

This is the newest one to add to the collection! Welcome home Kale!

Here you can see a few of the names on the side of my sign. I hadn't even made it to the house yet in this picture but nothing says home to me like neon green, zebra print, and black blue creek mud.

One more of the print! Aunt Katrina really out did herself this time!