Winding Road of Memories

Today was a special day because we had a family get-together in Fayette County at my Uncle Davie and Aunt Mindy's house. I guess we have been doing this since my granddaddy passed away in March 2004. And as I drove the long winding roads with a sleeping husband and 3 sleeping children, I found myself completely comfortable with the uncommon silence that engulfed me. I refrained from turning on my favorite CD and let my mind wander wherever it wanted to.


It led me to the memory of my granddaddy. And I guess that is because I knew that I was going back to the place where he and my grandmother started this family. Back to Hwy. 64 and past Glen Geary Lake where he and my cousins took me fishing. Past the John Deere place that's been there as long as my mind will allow me to remember. I thought about the old house on the farm, and I could smell the smells and see the view out the living room window again. I think that I had forgotten how much I loved that house. I thought about all the hard work my granddaddy did to make sure his family had the best.





How he loved my grandmother! I always thought it was so funny the way he so fondly called her "Woman" when he needed her. I can still hear his voice today. He was such a physically strong man even up into his 70's, and he didn't let anyone working around him be lazy, no sir! "Nicole, go get those 2x4's and bring them to me." And I obeyed. You would have, too. I don't mean to make it sound like I feared him because that is so far from the truth. I respected him.


I knew his heart. He loved his family and God. And I can completely identify with why my grandmother married him. (It's almost eerie that my own husband possesses some of the same qualities.) He was strong, yet could be sensitive. He was a hard worker. He could be stubborn about things he felt strongly about. He desired to raise his children in a Christian home.


I think he would have been proud if he had been there today and seen the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. I think he would have looked at my grandmother and said, "Jenny, can you believe all this started with just you and me?"


I am glad that I drove the road today...the road to my family's roots and the road to my memories.

Mrs. Mary Virginia Caudle and her great-grandchildren! (top: Mary Shields-13,Olivia-5 months, middle: Jonah-3, Max-10, Harris-4 months, "Miss Jenny", Mary Claire-4 months, Brooks-6, Isaac-6, bottom: Grant-4, Avery-5, John Owen-5) Christopher and Cooper were absent and we have another boy, Hardy, due any day now! :-) Our girls are a little out numbered, huh?