This morning as I was beginning to wake up, my mind wandered. I began thinking of my Grandparents' home. They lived in the country on a farm. I believe at one time there were over sixty acres that belonged to them. There was a barn to left of the house (if you were looking from the street) where my mother, as a child/teen, would go to milk the cows. The driveway circled a great oak that I adored.
The apple orchard in the front yard was perfect for me to climb; the trees were small I could reach the fork of the truck to climb into them. There the breeze felt even cooler and sky more beautiful. It is amazing what two feet will do for a child. The mighty oak in the front yard is what all the other grandchildren would climb. I admit they got me in it once and we all decided I should never do it again. Scared of heights, I did not want to look down to get out. And if you think I was going to jump you would be crazy!
The memory of those apple trees, makes the happy and sad. Happy thoughts of Grandma's homemade apple pies for my cousin Sandy and myself (our favorite). How my grandma would pick the apples, then slice then to lay them out to dry in the screened in porch. I love the smell of cut apples. I feel at home when I smell it. The saddness comes now knowing the new owners have removed all the heirloom apple trees.
Then I remembered this is where we had our reunions every year. Back then they were not "reunions", they were celebrations! Celebrations of my great-grandmother's, Alma Jane's, birthday. The entire family would gather! Cars would line the driveway! The driveway may have been a quarter of a mile long. Cars would be parked on both sides of the drive, then sometimes be three-four cars deep in the backyard. I loved going to my grandparents, but this one day I always felt a bit strange. Like I didn't know the place; I certainly could not call the name of half the people who were there.
This was my first thought this morning, of my grandparents home which led me to my great-grandmother's birthday celebrations. Today would have been my great-grandmother's birthday. She died when she was 104 (or a few weeks shy of). So "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRANDMA!!"
1 comment:
Okay, so my Mom pointed out my great mother is not, technically, part of the family from the reunion I described.
Our childhood memories are sometimes skewed, or just wrong. Case in point, I was giving my nephew, Tyler, some grief last year about not coming to the girls' birthday party. He said, why should I you never came to mine.
I attended all of his birthday parties from the time I met John until he stopped having them. The only reason he believed I was not there was because I was in none of the pictures. Why? Because I was the one taking them...it was always part of our birthday present to him, a copy of all the pictures.
Sometimes our memories can be wrong. The point of my post was the fact each memory led me to another memory, which finally led me to my great grandmother's birthday. :)
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