90 Remarkable Years

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Today we took a day trip to Bel Air, MD., to celebrate my Auntie Pauline’s 90th Birthday with family & friends. (Auntie Pauline is my Grandmother’s sister.)

Seeing so many cousins, aunts and uncles again reminds me how fortunate we are to have such wonderful and supportive family members. The last time that many of us gathered together at the same time was in 2002, which was a very tough year for my family as 3 key members passed away in quick succession of each other - - my Grandmother in October, her sister (Auntie Nedra) exactly 1 week later, and their younger brother (Uncle Buddy) passed away earlier that year in March. Thankfully today was a much happier celebration!

The day was meant to celebrate Auntie Pauline and the remarkable woman she is, but I admit that I did steal some of her thunder and brought Ilya pictures with me to show off! Our son has so many people looking forward to meeting him, and we are truly blessed with the love everyone is already showering upon him! My dad’s side of the family is very large and my cousin Carolyn is already working on adding Ilya to the family tree she is creating. Yay!!

The party was held at Mt. Carmel Primitive Baptist Church, which is a very (very!) small church that my Great-Grandparents helped to establish back in the 1930’s. In fact, up until a few years ago there was a beautiful tree on the grounds which was planted in honor of Great Grandaddy. I found out today that unfortunately that tree had to be cut down for some reason. I was pretty sad about that. My spirits lifted, however, when I saw my Great Grandmother's painting of the church still hanging in the Pastor's office.

As a small child, I attended many services with my Grandmother at Mt. Carmel. I loved Pastor Thompson and had so much fun when we went there. We also made many visits to him in his home and as a kid, I thought it was pretty darn cool to go to a real Pastor’s home and spend time with him! He would pretend to pull quarters from behind my ear and I was just in awe…I mean after all, that alone proved he was a man of God as far as a 4 year old was concerned!! :-)

I was amazed today to find out how many of Mt. Carmel’s members remember seeing me there with my Grandmother so many years ago. They haven’t seen me, my sister of my dad for years and yet they had their own special memories of each of us. One woman in particular, who was introduced to me as Sister Dixon, nearly brought me to tears with her memories, kind words and genuine concern and love for our family. I’m guessing she’s in her late 80’s and she uses a walker but when she saw me she clasped my hand so, so tightly. The strength of this otherwise frail looking woman surprised me and her words surprised me even more. She recalled memories I had long forgotten and I could feel her love exuding from between those clasped hands. Having the chance to meet and speak with Sister Dixon brought so much comfort and peace. She assured me that she was praying for Ilya’s homecoming and as she said that, I could literally feel the power of her prayers. It was truly an experience I will not soon forget.

Right next door to Mt. Carmel is another church with significant meaning/history for our family - - Mt. Zion United Methodist. As we were leaving the party, I asked Norm if we could stop by Mt. Zion to snap a few photos and pay respect to my Auntie Nedra and Uncle Creed. Their tombstone is beautiful - - with an aerial view of their farm engraved upon it. I tried to get a picture but you can see my reflection so unfortunately it’s not very good. As a teenager, I attended many services at Mt. Zion with my cousins, and a few summers I helped with the Bible school program. I can still remember the emotions I felt each time I stepped foot into this church. God was calling out to me even then, but unfortunately I didn’t feel like listening to His calls until 5 years ago. Thank goodness I finally stopped ignoring Him! (Pssst...if you're ignoring Him like I was, why don't you consider listening from time to time. Your life will only change for the better!)

I asked Norm to make one more pit stop as we headed home. My Grandmother worked at a Christian school for years, John Carroll High School, and surprisingly I had never seen it in person (only in pictures). So, Norm obliged and I was able to see where she spent the better part of 30 years of her life! It was the perfect end to a joyous day. The only thing I can think that would have made it any better was if Ilya had been there with us! Sleep tight little guy, we'll be back soon!