My takeaway from day #1 - Kentucky trip with two of my sisters.
We all know it's important to glean what information we can from the older generation. In my case, my sisters are the older generation. They were 16, 19, and 21 when I was born, so each of them could have been my mother. But, they weren't.
I have listened to stories from their childhood all the way down Route 23 to Kentucky. Remember, their childhood memories are not going to be the same as mine. They were well acquainted with my parents' grandparents, many of whom were born in the mid-1800's.
This evening, I was howling while I was driving. Betty told me of Ambrose Clemens, my father's grandfather who was known as a truly mean man. They went to visit him when he was living with his daughter as a 90-year old man.
He slept on a little cot in the kitchen.
Betty, being ten years old, didn't want to just sit and talk with him, so she went outside. A goat proceeded to eat her dress right off of her, leaving her with just a little slip to wear for the remainder of the visit, and the return trip to West Virginia. She had no other dress.
Fern and Betty both laughed about sister Jean Roth, who took one of her biscuits out to the pond that was covered in algae. She thought it looked good, and proceeded to smear that algae all over her biscuit and ate it.
Sister Fern, who has never done much wrong, sneaked out with a friend behind a barn and smoked cigarette butts, and both of them got sick and turned green.
Oh, this trip is already good. All of us can lose something we had in our hand a minute ago, but can remember things from 70+ years ago.
Well, 70+ years for them. I'm not quite there yet.
Wonderful memories! I hope you were recording your sisters' tales while you were driving!
ReplyDeleteOh, yes! They are all part of an older generation, and they all have good memories. That may not last forever, for two of the three are already in their eighties.
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