Tired of slopping hogs, a 16-year-old farm boy took a job bagging groceries at the local Piggly Wiggly almost 20 years ago with only two simple goals in mind:
1. To get the heck off the farm so he would never have to see another hog as long as he lived;
2. And to make enough money to buy his first car and start dating.
But a young man's goals change and mature as he matures, and life has a way of steering you in the direction it wants you to go until you find a course of your own, and I found more than those trivial dreams during my time at the Piggly Wiggly. What started as a part time job my junior year of high school turned into a much longer and more meaningful part of my life.
I met the lady who is now my wife while working at the Piggly Wiggly. That's something you won't find advertised in any grocery sale paper.
I made a lot of lifelong friends and fishing buddies while working there. Most are still there, and I check in on them from time to time.
I was able to work at nights while I went back to college and earned a degree. Like Granny used to say, an education is something no one can ever take away from you.
And I learned a skilled trade, one of many that I can rely on to feed my family if the need arises, and the need often arises in tough times like these.
I know this sounds like an endorsement of Piggly Wiggly, but it isn't (Like most people, I shop around). It's a thank you. It's a personal note to mark the end of an era.
While most probably didn't notice, and some may not care, a significant moment of local history took place this week. For the first time in over 40 years the Hampton Piggly Wiggly will not be owned by the Youmans family.
While the business that began on Lee Avenue in the '60s (according to the old timers) and moved down the road the year I was born will still remain a Piggly Wiggly, filled with the same familiar faces, I wanted to mark this moment by thanking Martin Youmans and all of his folks for what they have done for working people like me in Hampton, Allendale, and Barnwell counties over the past four decades.
It's the least I can do.
The Youmans family has always been great about donating to the communities they served. They also supported local farmers like my family and buy homegrown when they can.
And when you look at the staggering numbers of people who are out of work these days, something as simple as a job carrying some else's groceries should be appreciated when it puts groceries on your own family's table.
During my Pig years, whether it was bagging groceries or mopping floors or stocking shelves or cutting pork chops, I tried to work hard at every task I was assigned. I was a hard worker, if not a perfect or punctual one.
I left the Piggly Wiggly many times, to try my hand at factory work, to learn the construction trade, and finally to become a newspaper reporter. And even once during a trying time in my life when my personal demons got the best of me.
But every time I needed a job or a helping hand, the Youmans family and the local Piggly Wiggly took me back in. And, in turn, when they called on me looking for help I tried to be there as well.
So once again, on behalf of my family and many others in the community, thanks for every thing, Martin, Eric, and the gang. Names aren't needed, y'all know who you are.
I'll still be coming by every week. You can count on that.
By the way, I worked and saved and I got that car I wanted back then. And I finally started dating.
But I never could get away from the hog farm.