When I was a little boy we would occasionally go visit relatives who lived a long distance from us. When I say a long distance, I mean farther than we could walk in an hour. My grandmother didn’t have a car, so we walked when we would go to the store, or to visit our aunt, or friends in the neighborhood, which was all within about a two or three-mile radius. To go any further than that we depended on our aunt or a taxi cab.
Aunt Lee had an old white Chevrolet car. I should say, it would be old now, but back then it was probably only a few years old. She had that car for as long as I could remember. Once in a while, we would get in that car and go visit those relatives who lived too far away to walk.
We had lots of aunts and uncles. My mom had two sisters, but her brother died when he was only eleven. My dad had two brothers and four sisters. Those were the younger uncles and aunts. We didn’t get to see them much until we were older. My grandmother’s brothers and sisters and their spouses were our great-uncles and aunts. They are the ones we visited the most.
When we would go to their homes, we would usually stay for hours, and many times all day long. Sometimes we would even stay all night. I usually loved going to visit them. They would always hug us, kiss us, and tell us how cute we were, and how much we had grown since the last time they saw us.
I remember going to visit Uncle Wilberth and Aunt Adelia over on Pine Mountain. I think they were actually our great-uncle and aunt. Uncle Howard and Aunt Lorene lived uptown in Corinth for many years. Then, when we were older, they moved up around the Tennessee state line. Uncle B.Y. and Aunt Rachel lived by the highway in Dead Man’s Curve for a while, then they moved a few miles east on the other side of the highway. Then they moved over to the Bethlehem area when we were older. They came to visit us pretty regularly. I think Uncle Marvin and Aunt Ludie lived somewhere on the other side of Lone Oak, and Kossuth. I’m not sure. They both died when we were pretty young, so I don’t know exactly where they lived. From what I can remember, their house was built like the house on the old TV show, “Little House On The Prairie.”
Uncle Elbert and Aunt Effie lived at the bottom of Bethlehem hill. On the hottest days of summer, that was the coolest place to be. They had lots of trees, and a big spring-fed creek running right through their yard. The spring had created a pond that was only a few feet deep with water so clear you could see the bottom, and it was full of Lilly pads. They had made an area where you could walk down to the edge of the creek and get some of the spring water to drink. It was cold and delicious.
I remember going to see Uncle Ervin and Aunt Bonnie. They had a yard full of guineas. They were funny-looking blue and gray colored birds, and they just walked around making the most annoying sound I had ever heard. I only remember seeing Uncle Ervin a few times. He died when I was young but we continued to visit Aunt Bonnie for many years. It happened about the same way with Uncle Willie and Aunt Luola, except I don’t remember him at all. He died before I could get to know him, but when Aunt Luola would talk about him, I knew that she really loved him, and missed him terribly. She had two peacocks running around in her yard and they were so beautiful. We could never get close enough to touch one of them, but every time we visited her, we would find a few peacock feathers in the yard to take home with us.
One morning, Aunt Lee put a wooden box in the car as we were getting ready to go visit Aunt Luola. She wanted to give us a cat. At the end of our visit, the cat was put into the wooden box and the box went back into the car. When we got home, Aunt Lee took the box out and set it on the ground. The second she opened the lid, that cat jumped out and ran across the yard like a scalded dog. It ran across the road and into the woods. We only saw it a time or two after that, and only for a minute or so then, and only from a distance. For months, though, we could hear it at the edge of the woods crying. We took food and left it there for it every day. A few months later, we moved and had to leave the cat behind.
Uncle Roy and Aunt Daisy were our great uncle and aunt. They lived in a beautiful valley called “Horseshoe Bend.” They had cows, mules, and chickens, but what I remember the most were the two big turkeys running free in their yard. The male was huge. He was almost as tall as me and he was mean. He would chase me and my sister sometimes. It would scare us to death. Uncle Roy had to kick the thing two or three times one day to make him leave me alone. Other than having to avoid that killer turkey, I really enjoyed our visits with them.
There’s nothing like childhood memories. I cherish them. They take me back to a much different time than what we live in today. A time when everything seemed simple to me and I had no worries, except for the occasional crazy animal attacking me. Those memories make me think of what the world might have been like before sin entered in and messed everything up. Then I’m reminded that someday, God will return the earth to its original state, and we will be able to see and experience all the beauty and peace that we have missed out on because of the curse of sin. It will be an awesome experience and I don’t want to miss it. I’m looking forward to that day. I hope to see you there.
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