Sunday, October 7, 2007

You CAN Go Home Again


And I know, because that's where I spent my weekend. Back home.

Today marked the 150th anniversary of a little country church that my ancestors helped establish several generations ago. So this year the church Homecoming drew a huge crowd with lots of praise, singing, and of course, good old Southern cooking with plenty of sweet tea.

About 30 years ago I became interested in genealogy and spent lots of time with older relatives--talking with them, getting their stories, and hanging out in cemeteries. One day my daddy and his first cousin took me out into the cemetery at the church and after two hours they pointed out to me that I was related, by blood or marriage, to everyone buried there, with the exception of three people. A lot has changed since then, but I'd venture to guess that I am now related to all but thirty people in that cemetery. The blood runs long and strong back home.

We had a great time at my sister's house. Tons of food, college football, and family always make a nice combination. And this year we had a special treat--The Last Man Standing.

My uncle, 90 years old, came this year. He is the last surviving member of my daddy's family. He represents the last of a generation that was raised on a hard scrabble farm and went off to the war. There were ten of them, 9 boys and 1 girl. When we first started gathering at my sister's house 27 years ago the family arrived from several states, near and far. Some of them would fly in for the occasion, and one year we had about 70 family members there. The years have passed and so has a lot of the family, but the bonds we share are strong. We were delighted to see the uncle, still walking around under his own power, eating with his own teeth, telling jokes, and with a very sharp mind. He is the last real link we have to our own grandparents. Most of us, their grandchildren, are now grandparents ourselves. A few of us are great-grandparents. The circle of life continues forever, doesn't it?

Any road trip in the south offers opportunity not only to see the countryside and admire the farm crops, but to also receive religious and moral instruction. So I'm going to share with you some Sights From The South, because not everyone was blessed with being born and raised here.

Here's the first one:




And another:



Good advice, here:



I love this one:



This one is very original:




And this one leaves me wondering Just What In The World is going on in this congregation:



I'll be back to sewing soon. I plan to cut something out tonight.

I hope your weekend was as nice as mine.

1 comment:

CandlebyNight said...

Wonderful Post. I loved reading it and read it to all my children. We wished we could have met your Uncle. My boys would have loved to ask him about the war and one would have really enjoyed hearing about that hard scrabble farm.
You are blessed.