I’m Escaping the New England cold and snow and coming to Missouri this Wednesday through Saturday, Y’all! Dad and I are thrilled to be going to see Uncle Mahlon and Aunt Mary Lynn over on the other side of the state.
The last time I was in a house of Uncle Mahlon’s was when I was probably 7 or so. Uncle Mahlon and Aunt Dorothy had a double bed mattress suspended by chains above their own bed, for the girls. Being an only child, I never got to sleep with any other warm wiggling bodies, much less in a bunk bed, so that was one of the thrills of my growing up.
Pete, and little baby Jimmy, had their own room, where I remember Peter had heads, skins, bones, and Indian artifacts spread around his room on the radiator. Such a “boy!” I liked that though. In fact, I liked everything about being with their family ~ and I am anxious to go see their world 50 years later. I will have my notepad going, collecting memoirs from our patriarch, Vernon.
Who has some questions you’d like me to ask? We’ve got 5 hours each way. War, gardening, barn construction, cheese peddling in Jeff City, pig neutering? It’ll be fun to get he and Mahlon together too. Hope I can write that fast. Better bring a tape recorder.
Oh, and I think we can forget Vernon for the website. He tried. He bought a computer for a dollar at a church tag sale, but when I told him he had to get internet service for $60+ a month, he didn’t speak — which is typical of Dad when he is thoroughly disgusted. Since my Mom was a wizz-bang typist and personal secretary for so many years, he said he always wanted just to be able to type his name. He never had tried. So he got his dollar’s worth — he got to type, and even though he doesn’t have internet, it showed up on the screen. He was thrilled.
I’ll take him to the library and show him the website, I promise, and I will stow away lots of pictures, as well as stories and mail them asap.
Can I be a favorite then?? I can hear Grandma disapproving of this somehow. She’d tell us to “play nice.”
Mary Jane