missing granddaddy

Friday, November 30, 2007

Family Current mood: nostalgic My father and I have this amazing bond - we can be thousands of miles away, but we know when we need each other. I received a DVD in the mail from him - he has started transferring our old VHS home movies to DVD. The first is my grandparents' 50th wedding celebration. It was a tear-jerker. I was 7. A very solumn 7. Wide-eyed and straight faced, with a hint of defiance. And I refused to speak on camera because I didn't like how my voice sounded. In the video are several that have passed - Granddaddy, Grandmother, Aunt Nancy, Aunt Thelma, Uncle George. All the 'kids' spoke, but most impressive were my Dad and Uncle Dale. Dad told stories from his childhood about each of his siblings and then about his parents..and my Dad was certainly not an angel as a youngster. And then he addressed the "younger generations" and told a story about Love. That a football coach every homecoming made each player meet his respective parents on the 50 yard line to hug them and tell them they loved them. If the player refused, he didn't play in that game. The importance of family, they are all that is left when everything else is gone. And even when they pass, you are left with their imprints. I realized that my parents have never gotten off the phone with me or left without saying "I love you". Even if we were in a fight. Uncle Dale retold history. It's good to know where I come from. The Starr farm, that is still in the family, homesteaded in 1803. Farmers. Hardworkers. So influencial in soil conservation and farming advancements. Good people. People who struggled to get by, but always helped (quote from Granddaddy, "well, I need the work more than the money so I'll be there!"). Granddaddy was born in 1911, Grandmother in 1916 - the times they went through...wars, the depression, horse and buggy to the space age, radio to color tv and televisions. Wow. I realize how fast life is now. How much we miss. How we don't live off the land anymore...we destroy it. How commercial we have become. Grandmother and Granddaddy got married out of high school in Grandmother's parents home - small, simple. Granddaddy would bring Grandmother gum when they were courting. And they were married for 56 years before Granddaddy passed. Does anything last 56 years anymore? And while from a religion standpoint, I don't agree with everything exactly as they did, but it got them through. It was a good community. And they led Christ-like lives. I understand now. Singing. Loving. Simple. Good. Honest. Hardworking. Where did those times go? I long for them... And I hope one day I will have a family as wonderful, close and loving as theirs and the one I grew up in. I am truly blessed. I never realized how rare it is to feel as much love throughout the course of one's life as I have experienced.