Happy Monday Y'all!! I hope and pray that wherever y'all are that you are enjoying the blessings of this most beautiful day. I have been reminiscing and written it down and thought I would share it here so as not to forget it. I hope you enjoy reading this. As much as anything else, I hope it makes you think about the loved ones who have recently gone on. Maybe think about your generation a little more. For me, my generation is "old" generation now. Funny how when it's us, we don't consider ourselves old. In reality we are. It hits home hard some days. But don't stress out on that. Focus on the good and fun times and share those time with the younger generations. And any real history, share that too. Events that are important, share those if you can at all. I may be adding more to this in the future, I don't know. But this is a start for now.
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The older I get, the more I think about my generation of the family. My precious Momma is the last one standing for her generation on my Momma and my Daddys side of the family. Daddy and all my Aunts and Uncles have done left us. With so many long gone, it makes you start thinking about your own generation and the family left standing.
Momma had a brother, Uncle Robert. He was a few years older than Momma. He served his country well by serving in WW2 and also Korea. He married my Daddy's sister, Aunt Wanda. They had 3 children, Lynn, David and Carol. Lynn was a sweetheart if ever there was one. She was their oldest child. She was actually between my oldest brother and next oldest brother in age. One of my most favorite memories of Lynn is when we was all younger, they came down for a visit and she was sitting by one of my brothers and he stuck his thumb up and she put hers up beside his and it was so funny to see that. My brother has these massive hands, even as a teenager and Lynn was a very petite young lady and it looked like matchstick beside a tree and she laughed and laughed. She thought that was the funniest thing ever, and it really was. We all did and I still laugh when I think of Lynn. She got sick a few years ago and passed away and that left a huge hole in their family. We all have missed Lynn terribly. David was the middle child. He was in the military and he served his country well. I remember when they came in one time when we was all young, David and one of my brothers was messing with a knife. One of my other brothers had killed a squirrel and and was cleaning it to put in the freezer. When he got it skinned David and Wally was messing with their knives and trying to cut the squirrel tail with it. Just holding it out in the air, one hand on each end of the tail. David took a really hard swing with the knife towards the tail and missed the tail, but almost cut Wally's finger off. There was a big chunk of hide that just sliced down that finger. Oh my gosh, you talking about some "hot under the collar parents"!! They all were. But Momma the miracle worker to the rescue and she got the situation taken care of. Recently, David got sick. He had worked in granite all his life and that work had all but destroyed his lungs. He went to the hospital, hoping for treatment. Treatment didn't help him and left us on Feb 16th 2022. He fought hard to stay with his family, but it wasn't meant to be. His sister Carol and her children was by his side during this battle. The battle was too great for him to overcome. Now Carol is carrying on with her family. She has had a few major struggles in her life and has fought hard to be where she is now. She is the same age as my youngest brother, well actually a month younger. When we was all younger they used to come in, I remember one time Carol went to the back of my grandparents house and opened the back door and shooed all the chickens from the back of the house all the thru the house and out the front door!! She done that. hahaha Everyone was out front sitting on blankets and chair under the big silver poplar in the front yard and she had gone missing. All of a sudden, we heard a ruckus coming from the front door and looked around and here comes about 50 chickens thru the house and out the front door. I laugh every time I think of that episode.
Momma also had a sister, Aunt Dovie. She had 2 children, Edith and Donald. I was very young, maybe even too young to have real memories of Edith, but she got killed in a car wreck when she was a teenager. Her brother Donald, served his country well in Vietnam and came home and lived a quiet life until he left us a few years ago. He was a fantastic artist and the world missed out on his talents. She also had 2 other daughters, Martha and Thressa, who are alive and well with children and grand children of their own, living in different areas of the US.
Daddy's oldest sister, Aunt Mildred had moved away and didn't come home very often. I remember seeing her only 3 or 4 times at best. She had one child. I never seen her when I was a child, that I remember. When she grew up and married, she lived in Nevada. So we never seen her much at all. I think I remember her coming home sometime after I was married. I know my Momma, Daddy, and another aunt and uncle made the drive out west to see her a few years ago. Aunt Mildred passed away when I was in my early teens. When we went to Ohio, we would go see her and I always enjoyed visiting with her.
Daddy had an older brother, Harding and he served his country well during WW2. Uncle Harding and Aunt Nellie had several children. They had a son but he passed shortly after his birth and so did another baby girl. Melba, Nelda, Wilda and Hilda are the ones who survived. They grew up living closest to us, so we seen them more often. Every one of them could sing like angels and I loved to hear them use their talent. I always loved being around all of them. Aunt Nellie played the piano like nobody's business and NO ONE could ever play the great old hymns of faith as well as Aunt Nellie. She could make the piano sing. Melba and Nelda were older than me and older than my oldest brother. So they were both married when I was a kid. Melba got sick a few years ago, maybe 10 or so, and went home to be with Lord. The other 3 sisters are still with us. I rode the school bus for many years with Wilda and Hilda. Hilda was the same age as my youngest brother. Since I didn't have a sister, Hilda was the sister that I never had.
Daddy also had another older sister, Aunt Nell. She and Uncle Bud had 4 children. Susie, Maxine, Michelle and Bobby. Susie may be my oldest cousin on my Daddy's side. I just can't remember for sure. She was always fun to be around. She was married when I was little so I don't have a lot of younger memories of her. Maxine and Michelle and Bobby are the ones I remember so well. Maxine and Michelle would always play beauty shop with me and I loved it. They always experimented with my hair and gave new hairdos about every 15 minutes. They was into dancing and pantomiming, if anyone remembers that. They would put on shows for all of us from time to time. They were true entertainers. Sadly Michelle left us just shortly after her high school graduation when she and some friends went on a cross country trip. She actually drowned in the Colorado River in the early 1970's. It's hard to think of her being gone this long but it's true. Bobby always loved coming to visit. He got to hang out with a bunch of guys and he loved it. He got to romp the hills and hollers and go hunting and fishing and do stuff that he didn't get to do with his sisters. Bobby actually came down stayed with our Grandmother for a few months after he graduated school.
I will add here that my Daddy also served his country well. He joined the army and was getting ready to be shipped over seas when WW2 ended. He had already been sent to California and was awaiting the next ship out when they got word that it was over. Daddy served 4 years in the army and came home married my Momma. Momma and Daddy had 6 "chidlers". 5 boys and 1 girl. They will always have at least one fan, because I have always been their number 1 cheerleader. Momma had 6 babies in 7 years and she grew up with us. No parents has ever worked any harder than mine has to rear their family. There are lots of stories that could be told. The greatest story that I can tell right now is how, by the grace of God, all my brothers and I are still together in this life. Only by His grace and we don't take that lightly. We know that at some point in time, death will take one of us. And I guess that's why I have started thinking about our generation more than ever before. I laughed and told my Momma on her birthday that all of her children had caught up with age wise. We are all just a bunch of old geezers with young hearts and young memories. We pray that the memories of those we have lost way too soon of this generation and those of my Mommas generation will continue to live on in the generations coming up thru the stories and memories that we can pass on to them. While we still have time and while we still can, share the fun stuff. Share the good stuff. Share the hard days. Share the old ways. Share what you know with the next generation so that we all can live on in the lives and the memories of these we leave behind. I dedicate this brief history of what I remember to those in my family who have gone on before us and may we remember you all with love and joy and know that our lives would have been quite different without having you in our lives. You made a difference to all of us. We love you all!! Edith, Donald, Lynn, David, Michelle, Jerry Otis, Martha Marguerite and Melba, you may be gone from us, but you are not forgotten.
Blessings on one and all today and everyday. Remember that God has made a way for you to be in right relationship with Him thru the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. He loves you that much. This too, needs to be a part of the legacy that we pass on from one generation to the next. Knowing that God has made it all possible and that we have made Him a priority in our lives by choosing to accept Christ as out personal Lord and Savior. love and hugs and blessings be yours till the next appointed time, patty
