CiCi and I didn’t know our aunt or many of our great aunts very well. Mommas’ sisters were a curious variety of loveliness, gentility, spiciness and an occasional proclivity to shoot out of windows at a few unlucky girlfriends that their brothers found themselves tangled up with. (Mommas directly attributed this questionable behavior to a strong McCoy vein that ran directly through our family.)
As a newlywed I found myself welcomed into Uncle R.’s family, and therefore also into the warm, bosomed-hug sisterhood of his mother’s 6 sisters. They were a cheerful, loving clutch of aunties who liked nothing better than to see a crowd of family around their dining room tables so that they could ply them unmercifully with tantalizing food. Auntie C. is the only sister left out of that precious six. She is 96 and still frets if you have only downed a mere 5 pounds of food for each meal and wants to be reassured that you are tucked in, warm and comfortable if you are staying with her. She is ready at the drop of a hat to head out for a meal and a sensory filling drive through the glorious Appalachian Mountains that surround her house.
This past weekend it was a joy to meet up with Uncle R.’s two feisty & fun loving siblings and a brother-in-law and have some good fellowship with Auntie C. Her house is full of wonderful memories for Uncle R. – playing board games far into the night, running through a field of morning glories when he was little and going fishing with Papa, Uncle R.’s dad. It’s a region with its own craggy, rough-hewn beauty and we love to sit in Auntie C.’s front sunroom and watch the coal trains going by as they have for years beyond remembrance.
As a newlywed I found myself welcomed into Uncle R.’s family, and therefore also into the warm, bosomed-hug sisterhood of his mother’s 6 sisters. They were a cheerful, loving clutch of aunties who liked nothing better than to see a crowd of family around their dining room tables so that they could ply them unmercifully with tantalizing food. Auntie C. is the only sister left out of that precious six. She is 96 and still frets if you have only downed a mere 5 pounds of food for each meal and wants to be reassured that you are tucked in, warm and comfortable if you are staying with her. She is ready at the drop of a hat to head out for a meal and a sensory filling drive through the glorious Appalachian Mountains that surround her house.
This past weekend it was a joy to meet up with Uncle R.’s two feisty & fun loving siblings and a brother-in-law and have some good fellowship with Auntie C. Her house is full of wonderful memories for Uncle R. – playing board games far into the night, running through a field of morning glories when he was little and going fishing with Papa, Uncle R.’s dad. It’s a region with its own craggy, rough-hewn beauty and we love to sit in Auntie C.’s front sunroom and watch the coal trains going by as they have for years beyond remembrance.
On the way back to Nashville, Uncle R. and I drove down the Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail – a winding and beautiful 2-lane highway that we caught at Duffield, VA and followed through Jonesville, Rose Hill, Ewing, VA and to The Cumberland Gap and quaint, rustic little mountain town of Cumberland Gap.
The Cumberland Gap is a pass through the Cumberland Mountains region of the Appalachian Mountains, also known as the Cumberland Water Gap, at the juncture of Tennessee, Kentucky & Virginia. Famous in American history for its role as one key passageway through the lower central Appalachians, it was an important part of the Wilderness Road and is now part of the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. The Cumberland Gap was discovered in 1750 by Dr. Thomas Walker, a Virginia physician and explorer. Long used by Native Americans, the path was widened by a team of loggers led by Daniel Boone, making it accessible to pioneers, who used it to journey into the western frontiers of Kentucky and Tennessee.
Our time with Auntie C. is important and we hope to get back to see her as soon as possible. I wish that our Pamela’s Girls could meet her! I know that you’d love her and the sweet, Godly spirit that shines through her each day. There are gentle, living saints that pass through our lives as we walk along the road to become more like Him. If we look closely we can see His love shining through tender 96-year-old eyes and feel it in soft cheek kisses.
Our time with Auntie C. is important and we hope to get back to see her as soon as possible. I wish that our Pamela’s Girls could meet her! I know that you’d love her and the sweet, Godly spirit that shines through her each day. There are gentle, living saints that pass through our lives as we walk along the road to become more like Him. If we look closely we can see His love shining through tender 96-year-old eyes and feel it in soft cheek kisses.
Love you!
Auntie J.
No comments:
Post a Comment