My dear cousin sent me a connection to a website for our family reunion which is coming up this summer. If any of my family want more information on this, email me and I’ll direct you to her site. Anyway, that got me started thinking about families. I can only imagine the surprise on the faces of Ben and Tep Willis if they were able to see what they started when they came to Indian Territory from North Georgia in the 1800s. I’m not sure how many descendants Ben and Tep have because certainly not all of them come to the reunion but those of us who come are, as Ma Latty might say, a passel; a noisy, busy, loving passel.
Even though many ancestors and family members are no longer with us in the physical sense, they left reminders. I look at a cousin and see the dark hair and thoughtful gray eyes of my mother. Another cousin bustles around, being sure each newcomer is welcomed and I hear the voice of an aunt inviting us to come inside and have something to eat. My nephew’s son is learning to play the violin. No surprise there–that gift was handed down to him from Ben Willis, long ago. And my grandson loves to dance. The word is that Ben might have played for dances…that is, before Tep put a stop to that! The family trait of perseverance shines in the problem solving ability of my granddaughter.
Another cousin always brought a picture of my grandparents, Levi and Edna Latty and their four children. Edna was Ben and Tep’s oldest child. Although that cousin is now with the Lord, I’m sure her sister will bring that picture. It will sit in a place of honor at the reunion. We cousins all have loving memories of Ma and Pappy Latty whose farm on the Illinois River is not so many miles from where we have our reunion. We talk about Ma’s big breakfasts of homemade sausage, biscuits and gravy. We remember how hard Pappy worked in his fields and the way he whistled “The Glendy Burk”, a tune by Stephen Foster, when he went to milk cows before daylight.
I could see Pappy reflected in the life of a cousin who was a gentle man. He spoke quietly but had a keen and subtle appreciation of the funny or ridiculous side of life. I see my grandmother’s clear blue eyes in the eyes of my son. But most of all, Ben and Tep, Levi and Edna, are with us in what they taught us: love of God and family, respect and caring for others, doing our best to live honorably.
When days get hard; when our hearts ache and our minds can’t solve life’s puzzles, it is comforting to look back at our grandparents. They too faced tough times but they came through and, amazingly came through with their sense of humor intact. So, we look at our little ones who are our future, we look back at our grandparents, who are our past, and we lift our heads and look the present in the eye. Reunions are reminders. We are all God’s children. We are a family.
Speak Your Mind