Flashback Friday...Aunt Carol and Uncle Jim's

The Farmers were talking around Susie's counter and I was half listening.

Someone said "are you gonna get that quote together for them?"

Bobby then turned to me and said, 

"Are you gonna be mad at me if I tear Uncle Jim's house down?"

I normally would have said "Wait, what?"

But I had already heard the rumor that my - always wanted to be future address -  was quite possibly going to become the future address of another family member.

Sigh....

It makes me happy to think of Hildebrandts being raised on that hill and grandkids being so close to their grandparents, but as always, seeing the old go away, of course, makes me sentimental.

Cori spent time scanning some slides that Steph and Elden found and came up with this gem:

Thinking about the house and seeing this iconic image, made me start thinking a lot about Aunt Carol and Uncle Jim.

I love looking back and remembering them, but it is not without regret.

It is the age old..."I came along too late to know and appreciate...baby of the family".... issue again. 

I have often said I wouldn't want to trade being the baby of the family, but it does make me sad that I had so little time with the wonderful people who are now our ancestors.

I regret that even tho, I remember them stopping by for many visits...

I was a teenager and was more interested in sitting in my room by myself and listening to records than sitting around listening to them talk. I could never have imagined that I would be sitting here so many years later, longing for just one of those visits back...

so I could just listen, study and memorize their faces and ask them questions and hear their stories.

The other MAJOR regret I have when I think about Aunt Carol, is that I did not go to her funeral.

I know, it sounds ridiculous to me now. She was my Mom's SISTER and I did not go to her funeral.

I was a college student and was in the middle of finals week and did not think I could leave.

My mom said it was okay...stay and take your tests. I wish someone would have told me to call those intimidating professors and tell them I would simply not be able to take my finals that week and reschedule my tests. 

But in spite of these regrets, I have several memories of both of them....and they are good.

I was old enough to realize that they were characters, 

although it wasn't until hearing Dave and Sandy's stories of their "champagne brunches," that I realized they were much more colorful characters than my kid aged mind could grasp!

Steph reveals one of the "colorful" cabinets : )

So, when Steph invited me to come over and go thru the last remaining boxes in the "disaster room"...

I accepted the invite with great joy and honor. 

Granted most of what we uncovered was probably the last odds and ends of a packed away garage sale, but in some odd way it made me feel closer to Aunt Carol and Uncle Jim.

Just being there...walking thru the house...

hearing Steph's stories, her laugh and seeing a few tears, made me feel like I was able to reach in and touch these two people that I had SO little time with. 

We even came across a drawer or two of Aunt Polly and Uncle Harold's cancelled checks (many written to the Log Cabin : ), cards and odds and ends. 

Just seeing Aunt Polly's hand writing...I know it is strange...but it meant something to me. 

Honestly, we pitched most everything...

but I did choose an appropriate momento... a few cocktail and wine glasses and martini pitcher. 

Now, when I mix the drink of the week, I can think of and toast Uncle Jim and Aunt Carol!

side note...

I laughed out loud and almost cried happy tears when I found this.

Proof that mom and Aunt Carol were sisters....

a pine cone nestled away in a vase...

this is SO VERY something that my mom would do.

I will miss seeing that house along this road.

I will miss the thought of these beautiful floors.

I will miss passing it and knowing someone special to me and my mom and our family lived there.

I will miss...wondering what I missed by not being there more.

But, as with all the really special things...house or no house...they live on. 

I will never forget as a little girl, sneaking a peek and wondering what it would be like to not have a thumb on my hand.

Or, Uncle Jim letting me sit in the chair that "moved and shaked" and had it's own remote. How very high tech!

I will never forget the way Aunt Carol walked with shoulders sort of shrugged and that Turner way of holding her mouth and murmuring/whistling thru the teeth.

Or the way Uncle Jim sat at our kitchen table, green work shirt, one hand propped on his knee, saying "Now, Sis...what I want to know is...."

...my mom answers....

Uncle Jim says..."oh, okay..uh uh...I see...alright....well, I just wondered."

Or sisters together at the hospital. 

Seeing my mom's hands rub lotion on her sister's back...both silent...both knowing. 

Their home and who they were and were to us...

will live on in our hearts and in our telling of the stories....

and in this regrets are eased.......and memories are cherished.

Aunt Carol & Uncle Jim Tyrell

Directions to here:

So, Bob...

the answer is no, I won't be mad at you...

as long as you read this and understand that a house is much more than a house.

And when the time comes, you hit it very gently.