We made a whirlwind trip to Tennessee this past weekend to attend Marvin's family reunion. What a lovely time we had, even though the time was short. We left on Thursday and drove as far Clarksville. We ate a nice dinner at Cracker Barrel, stayed at the Holiday Inn Express and were up and on our way again early the next morning. Doing the trip to Dellrose in 2 days is very, very pleasant! :) We arrived at Carolyn's house in time for lunch - yummy ham sandwiches! The afternoon was spent relaxing and visiting. That evening Marsha, Grayson and all of their kids came by as did Mary Ann. Carolyn fried up a bunch of chicken and made mashed potatoes, fried corn and all kinds of yummy food! What a feast we had! Truly, it was so nice to have that time with all of them.
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| Jackson and Max |
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| Jackson playing guitar for the kids |
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| Carolyn's yummy fried chicken!! |
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| Magge and Grayson |
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| Jackson and Sam |
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| Magge, Walt and Jonathan playing Risk |
Saturday we headed over to the Hickory House restaurant for the extended family reunion. Aunt Cleo celebrated her 90th birthday back in June, but her son, Steve, and family weren't able to come from California until now. We are so grateful to Steve for taking the initiative to set up this family reunion around their trip so we could all be together. We had a terrific time catching up with everyone.
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| Vicky, Mary Ann, Carolyn |
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| Diana, William, Steve |
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| William and Cleo |
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| Jonathan, William and Jackson |
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| Cousins - Morris, Vicky, Marvin, Carolyn and Steve |
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| Cousins with Aunt Christine and Aunt Cleo |
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| the whole crew! |
After lunch we headed to the cemetery there in town to visit the gravesites of various family members. It sure doesn't seem like Marvin's parents should have been gone so long. We visited two other cemeteries in more remote locations with fascinating family headstones. Aunt Christine was able to tell us so many family stories - what a wealth of precious information she was. We are so grateful that we had that time together (and we took a lot of video!).
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| I love this photo Jackson took |
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| Aunt Christine sharing family history at an old family cemetery |
At one point all three carloads of folks drove over to 'the White House' where all the siblings were born and grew up. (this includes Marvin's mother, Lucille and her siblings) The house has a privacy gate at the end of the drive - complete with a box to enter the code to open the gate. But, the gate was open Saturday afternoon and we all boldly drove up the drive to the house. The owners son came out to see what on earth was going on (I can't blame him one bit!!!) and Steve hopped out of his car to tell him that Aunt Christine had grown up in this house and to ask if we could possibly take a few photos of the outside. The son got his dad who then got his wife who then came out to meet us all and... invited us to come inside and tour the house!!??!!?? Amazing! I can honestly tell you that if three carloads of complete strangers (with three different state plates) came driving up to my house on a random Saturday afternoon, unannounced, that I would NOT go out and invite them all IN! I would more than likely lock the doors, hide under my dining table and hope they didn't look in the windows at all the mess!! But, luckily, this lady was nothing like me. :)
Her name is Connie and she is the most gracious southern lady you would ever want to meet. She was as overjoyed to have us there as we were to be there. Really! When Aunt Christine pointed to one room and said in a quiet voice, "this is where I was born" Connie, with tears visible in her eyes, swept across the floor to embrace her in a hug. We saw the room where Marvin's mother and Christine slept; where Steve's dad and Vicky's dad slept and where all 8 children were born. We gazed out the front door at the porch that remains seemingly unchanged, picturing all those children (adults to each of us) playing and laughing. Connie even has in frames a piece of old tin that was on the original house, along with a couple of hinges and nails. In another frame is a collage made from pieces of original wallpaper. She is a protector of history and it was a wonderful feeling to know she is the loving caretaker of that precious home. Can you imagine a better experience? I am still in awe!
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| Aunt Christine and Connie |
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| piece of tin and old hinges from the house |
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| collage of wallpaper from the house |
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| William and Steve standing at the room where Steve's dad slept as a child |
After that we went to yet another house from their family history - this time the house their parents moved to after most of their 8 children were grown and gone. This was the house that Marvin and his generation remember as the 'grandparents house' - the home of many visits for the cousins.
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| Aunt Christine, Carolyn and Aunt Cleo |
After all these wonderful hours of touring the countryside we said our good-byes and went our separate ways. Carolyn went with our family to Sarge's Shack for dinner where we had one of the best steaks I have ever had!! Then we made our way home, driving past their other grandmother's house - the one nearby their parents old home. So many houses... so many memories...
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| Marvin's Grandmother Taylor's house |
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| Marvin's parents house.... |
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| Lots of memories there |
Finally back to the present - to Carolyn's home and the chance to visit a bit more and process all the wonderful experiences and memories of the day. Sunday morning we got up early and hit the road. We made it all the way home in one day, albeit one very long day! 600 miles is too far to travel at once, I do believe. But, we sure had a lot of fun things to talk about the whole way home! Can't wait to go back again!
You can see all the photos by
clicking here.
