Warm and mostly sunny, with highs in the 60's on Saturday and up into the 70's on Sunday, the weather in Georgia was perfect last weekend. The people were even warmer and sunnier than the weather, exceeding perfection. I thought it was going to be a joyful event, and it truly was! My parents would have ben so happy with all that took place (well, with almost all that took place.).
Dan and I traveled with my sister Julie, and her two sons, Shon and Seth, her daughter, Amy, and her daughter-in-law, Cody and her nearly one-year-old baby girl, Hailey Sierra Baird. What a fun and lively group to be with! Considerate too. The hotel lobby was put to good use during our stay with lots of visiting among cousins, aunts and uncles. Of my parents 7 children, 5 were there, with Becky and Jim being absent due to their missions in India and in heaven. Out of their 35 grandchildren, 21 were present. Only two great-grandchildren were there, little Hailey, and John Saxon's 4-y/o son, Ethan. Mother's brother, Ozzle Coy Jones, drove down, as well as another relative of hers, Marilyn. Daddy's siblings, our beautiful Aunts June, Jeanette, Janice, and the dashing Uncle Jack were there, as well as his former wife, Aunt Sue, with most of their children, our cousins Joy and Judy, Smith, Jill, Jody, and John. Daddy's cousin and boyhood pal, Lawrence Clark, wasn't able to be there due to illness, but his wife Lolita, and their son, Grady, were there. Then there were friends and former co-workers, who were friends too, and former fellow branch or ward members. I heard friendly voices I hadn't heard in years and years. My heart is truly overflowing with love and warm memories, and I feel spiritually nourished and enriched by our gathering in honor of my Mom. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father created family as the basic unit of society, and that families can become eternal. Losing a precious member of one's family can be a temporary loss!
My sister Jamie did a fine job planning and coordinating everything. And she also provided us with some lighthearted entertainment Saturday evening at the Cracker Barrel in Tifton. She and Jenny, and Julie, and Dan and I shared a table. Jamie excused herself to go check on her friend, Judith, or so she claims. But she came back with a few hush puppies, a delicious southern fried bread, and some biscuits. As Shon was handing his plate to the waitress after finishing his meal, Jamie asked for his untouched hush puppies. Then she spied a couple of pieces of fried okra on his plate and quickly ate them. Kimball asked the waitress, "Who is that woman?" The waitress replied, "I don't know. Somebody who's hungry, I guess." Jamie went on another foray and brought back more biscuits from a couple of other cousins, and a bowl of grits. I spoke for the grits. I didn't want to visit GA without having had grits, for goodness sakes.
With my niece, Amy Baird Jackson's permission, I'm now posting her blog entry that covers the same time frame, along with some of her sunshiny memories.. She wrote both beautifully and historically.
5 comments:
What an honor to have made it on the "World of Washburns" blog!!! It was a good time and I am glad you travelled with us. Although, I do have to apologize I think I was a little grumpy and impatient the last day, just ready to come home.
If you felt grumpy, it was undetectable. I think the secret to family gatherings is keeping them short and sweet though. So we were all ready to come home!
What a joy to read about your trip, from both points of view... Amy, how pleased your mother must be, to know that she had a hand in raising a daughter like you... What lovely posts... both...
We were not able to attend my aunt's funeral Bonnie, as much as we wished to and really tried hard... but my thoughts followed a similar path as you experienced, through the day that I knew all were gathered in that branch of my family... later, my extended family has filled in those of us that missed the funeral in a similar way that you are doing here... and might I add that it is a blessed service which you provide in your posts for those that also loved your mother/grandmother...
I too am grateful for the blessing of eternal families, and especially glad that I am one of the few people who knows about this eternal principle during my life here on earth! It must be so hard for people who think that their loved one is gone forever when they die, or that they are no longer part of a family.
I've also written a couple of emails, Polly, just to let family members who care but who weren't able to be there feel a little more a part of it. Cybermail is a blessing!
You know what surprising fact I've learned, Lydia? Many people think their family will be together in the hereafter without benefit of temple sealings. They forget the "till death do you part" sentence in the marriage ceremony, or maybe write in something they like better. Priesthood authority never even enters their consciousness.
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