There and back again
Hubbyfink and I spent last week in the company of family and friends in Germantown and Arkansas. There was many a cookout, lots of time spent splashing about in the pool, playing with nephews, and a couple cut-throat games of Scrabble. We spent a fair amount of time with zipmeister. Mom and I spent an even fairer amount of time shopping. Johnny's twentieth birthday was last Tuesday and he enjoyed a pretty rocking party, complete with brand new ping pong table.
Last Thursday, we visited my dad in Arkansas for the day and then dropped in on relatives in my "hometown" of Heth (which is less a town and more a railroad crossing in the middle of absolutely nowhere). Hubbyfink met my 94-year-old great uncle Vance and great aunt Bernie and second cousins JoBelle, Bess, and Sid. I haven't seen any of them in about twenty, maybe twenty-five, years.
JoBelle now lives in my childhood home. She was gracious enough to let me poke through the house and point out important childhood memory locales to Hubbyfink such as the cabinet where Mom hid when Daddy flushed her down the toilet and the air vent that Mom pushed Daddy down in retaliation. Hubbyfink couldn't believe the size of my upstairs bedroom with en suite bath. I'd told him that I'd always had large bedrooms and big closets. :) The inside, aside from removal of wallpapers and repainting walls, hasn't changed all that much. The outside, on the other hand, was very different. The big tree under which we spent so many summer days playing in a sandbox or simply lounging in the shade is gone. My tree in the middle of the yard is gone. The cottonwoods in the ditch are gone. The apple tree next to the ditch and the plum tree in the back yard are gone. Mimi's and David's trees in the front yard and the pine trees lining the gravel drive to the grain bins are HYOOGE. There's a stand of cypress trees in the back yard which Sid and Bess planted years ago. All the holly bushes in the beds around the perimeter of the house are gone. JoBelle said there was a problem with water moccasins coming up from the ditch and hiding in bushes so she got rid of any cover.
The shacks that some farm workers lived in down the road have been torn down. I noticed that many other houses which used to sit along the highway are also gone. My grandparents' house is in pretty terrible shape. My childhood orthodontist (who, according to Daddy, is in his 80s and is as spry as most 40-year-olds [Dr. Sandusky's mother was still driving and living on her own in Memphis at the age of 110. I'm not sure if she's still alive.].) keeps that house as a hunt club for duck hunting, but there have been a lot of break-ins and vandalism. We drove around to the backyard and I pointed out the screened porch where we'd watch summer lightning storms over the fields and woods.
zipmeister, his boyfriend, a couple other friends, and my brother beaznuts came over on our last night in town and we all stayed up very late playing Munchkin. My brother fell under Munchkin's spell and spent much of the following day searching for it in local comic book/game shops. Now he's trying to teach Mom and his wife how to play.
We got an extra day of visiting, thanks to the way the 4th of July fell on the calendar, and I am grateful for that. It still wasn't enough time with loved ones, but that's what "next time" is for.
Last Thursday, we visited my dad in Arkansas for the day and then dropped in on relatives in my "hometown" of Heth (which is less a town and more a railroad crossing in the middle of absolutely nowhere). Hubbyfink met my 94-year-old great uncle Vance and great aunt Bernie and second cousins JoBelle, Bess, and Sid. I haven't seen any of them in about twenty, maybe twenty-five, years.
JoBelle now lives in my childhood home. She was gracious enough to let me poke through the house and point out important childhood memory locales to Hubbyfink such as the cabinet where Mom hid when Daddy flushed her down the toilet and the air vent that Mom pushed Daddy down in retaliation. Hubbyfink couldn't believe the size of my upstairs bedroom with en suite bath. I'd told him that I'd always had large bedrooms and big closets. :) The inside, aside from removal of wallpapers and repainting walls, hasn't changed all that much. The outside, on the other hand, was very different. The big tree under which we spent so many summer days playing in a sandbox or simply lounging in the shade is gone. My tree in the middle of the yard is gone. The cottonwoods in the ditch are gone. The apple tree next to the ditch and the plum tree in the back yard are gone. Mimi's and David's trees in the front yard and the pine trees lining the gravel drive to the grain bins are HYOOGE. There's a stand of cypress trees in the back yard which Sid and Bess planted years ago. All the holly bushes in the beds around the perimeter of the house are gone. JoBelle said there was a problem with water moccasins coming up from the ditch and hiding in bushes so she got rid of any cover.
The shacks that some farm workers lived in down the road have been torn down. I noticed that many other houses which used to sit along the highway are also gone. My grandparents' house is in pretty terrible shape. My childhood orthodontist (who, according to Daddy, is in his 80s and is as spry as most 40-year-olds [Dr. Sandusky's mother was still driving and living on her own in Memphis at the age of 110. I'm not sure if she's still alive.].) keeps that house as a hunt club for duck hunting, but there have been a lot of break-ins and vandalism. We drove around to the backyard and I pointed out the screened porch where we'd watch summer lightning storms over the fields and woods.
zipmeister, his boyfriend, a couple other friends, and my brother beaznuts came over on our last night in town and we all stayed up very late playing Munchkin. My brother fell under Munchkin's spell and spent much of the following day searching for it in local comic book/game shops. Now he's trying to teach Mom and his wife how to play.
We got an extra day of visiting, thanks to the way the 4th of July fell on the calendar, and I am grateful for that. It still wasn't enough time with loved ones, but that's what "next time" is for.