It seems so very strange to be sitting here at home on this day. When I was a child Memorial Day meant many things. It meant a long trip from Nebraska to Oklahoma with many stops along the way. It meant a car loaded with plastic flowers - visiting Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents - two family picnics - the first day we got to go to the public pool if the weather cooperated - and long hot treks walking through the graveyard finding long lost relatives.
First we would stop for a
treat in McPherson at the McDonald's for hamburgers, french fries, and a soda. That was always a treat for us because we didn't eat out in my family unless we were traveling.
It was much too expensive when you had a family of 6 to feed. We ate at home.
The next stop might be in Augusta to visit Grandma Bowman. As a kid we always
"dreaded" the
"visits". Ugh - it meant sitting quietly on the couch while the adults visited for
hours sometimes. Grandma Bowman was OK though - she traveled to other countries and spoiled us with small gifts. Grandma Bowman always let us play outside in her front yard or on the porch too when we started to get fidgety from too much sitting. Sometimes she would even cook us a wonderful chicken and rice dinner. Often times she had some precious treasure from her travels that she would let us hold as she told the story that went along with it. She always made the most wonderful chocolate chip cookies with nuts in them when she knew we were coming. "Nuts" were a
delicacy - they were costly and mom didn't buy those often. If we wanted them we had to wait for the walnut tree by the steps to offer up its treasure. Then we spent hours cracking and digging out the nut meat for momma. She then whisked away the precious cargo and promptly froze it for later use in her zucchini or banana breads that came later around the holidays. Grandma Bowman -
I miss you - you were a wonderful adopted Grandmother and I am proud to have been chosen by you.
The next stop was
Attica. A small little blip of a town with just a tiny grocery store and not much else. Ah yes, but Aunt
Neoma and Uncle Doc lived there !
Always a welcome stop for the kids. Aunt
Neoma and Uncle Doc owned a motel there. One summer I got to stay with them and Aunt
Neoma let me help clean motel rooms and earn enough money to go to the pool almost every day ! She even had one of the boy's girl friends give me swimming lessons ! They had a "fancy" house, a big TV, coloring books and crayons to play with, a massively tall swing set outside, and gum ! Aunt
Neoma always always had
gum !
Not the spearmint 1/2 a stick gum momma gave us. She had
bubble gum - all flavors - grape, apple, and regular! She also had the meanest dog I ever met. I can't remember her name but she was a mid sized dog - black, white and gray with a growl that scared the daylights out of me ! I don't think she ever actually bit me but that was a dog we stayed away from.
After stopping at Aunt
Neoma's we usually headed out to "decorate". There was a small cemetery there with a few graves we needed to put flowers on. Momma always told us to be
respectful and not walk over the top of the graves. We always obeyed. I'm not so much sure we did it out of obedience or respect - I think we
feared if we walked over the top of the grave it would cave in.
Oh my - how our little imaginations worked. Usually at the cemetery we would meet up with other Aunts, Uncles, cousins, and my Grandma. They were there decorating too. We would all meet later at the park for our first picnic family get together of the holiday. You know, it's strange, but I don't remember anyone being
sad while "decorating" except for one time. My Aunt had lost a young child and the one year I remember her "decorating" she cried over the loss of her child. How sad.
After a stay overnight at Aunt
Neoma's we were off to Alva, OK. This is where the big family get together was ! The big family reunion picnic at the park ! Swimming !
This also meant a
visit to -
dun dun dun - Aunt
Vanone's house.
Oooo the agony ! Sometimes we didn't
HAVE to visit but most times we did. There was
no playing outside at Aunt
Vanone's.
No toys.
No shenanigans. Just a
looong visit that seemed to last all day where we sat on the couch and sat quietly waiting to leave. There was no getting drowsy and falling asleep sitting either - t
hat was rude. I'm sure she was the nicest lady but oh my, I was just a little girl who wanted to do anything but sit on the couch while the adults conversed !
This part of the visit meant I got to stay with
Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Daris. I spent much of my time there. Uncle
Daris was the grandfather I never had.
I was the twinkle in his eye and basked in his love and encouragement often. Aunt Marilyn was more than an Aunt she was another grandmother. Most times I would stay with them rather than my Grandmother. I loved Grandma too and spent lots of time with her but the love for my Aunt and Uncle was strong.
