To Atlanta for Lots of Family Stories

We stopped at D's Aunt Linda's house while we were in Atlanta this week. It was a bonus, a special treat, but in many ways I don't know why a whole trip shouldn't be planned around people like Aunt Linda who remind us of how strong and deep our Player family roots grow. (As we pulled away in the car I started planning our return trip.) Aunt Linda looks just like her siblings and is similarly gracious and welcoming. Can you see how our kids snuggled right into her like they've known her all their lives? In reality they had really just met her for the first time.

I jumped at the opportunity to ask her questions about her parents, Dan asked questions about her grandparents, and our kids asked questions about their Grandpa, Linda's brother. I love how in the Player family they speak so highly of their family foundation and they truly honor their parents. They love their humble beginnings on their farm. These are some of the stories we heard from Aunt Linda.

First off, she confirmed that our kids' Grandpa Wesley really was the perfect boy. The only thing he ever did wrong was to jump off the barn the time that resulted in his broken arm.

She described her parents as good and smart. Aunt Linda said she didn't understand until later that they had gifted her with a good mind. They never quarreled, or at least they never quarreled in front of her even when she knew they weren't in agreement.

Grandpa Edgar (Linda's dad, Dan's grandpa) read two papers a day.  As she grew up she thought he was the perfect man. (I'm just kicking myself that that I didn't take photos of the photos she had framed, one of them with a paper in his hands.) He played baseball in the pasture with his kids nearly everyday when Linda was young, despite not owning a real bat and baseball for a long time. He was really good at baseball. He sang Hank Williams songs to his kids and mixed up the words to make his kids giggle. He never raised his voice, and if he adopted a stern tone his kids listened and obeyed.  Grandpa Edgar fell off a barn when Linda was a teenager, breaking three vertebrae. He never fully recovered from that. He became less chatty as he lost his hearing in his later years.

Grandma Mary's (Linda's mom and Dan's grandma) sister married Grandpa Edgar's brother. Each family had six kids each and they grew up together like siblings. In prior generations similar marriages had happened and so there were lots of double cousins and family events were really big. Aunt Linda remembers that she didn't meet someone outside her family until she was in school because there were so many family members in her life.  

Grandma Mary worked the farm along with all of the kids and her husband. Their life growing tobacco and cotton was busy for the whole year with a couple slow months in the late fall and early winter. Grandma Edgar had a long list of things he tackled, specifically mended ditches during "the slow time".

Grandma Mary taught herself to play the piano. She had a set repertoire that she played beautifully in church. Aunt Linda still thinks of her mom when those hymns are played. She was chatty and kind, and as I side note I feel like I can imagine her perfectly having met her four daughters now. 

Grandma Mary's mom (Grandma Cora Fincher) played the guitar in spite of horrible arthritis that kept her off the farm and hard at work at home and in her flower garden. All of her siblings played musical instruments. They would have chicken suppers with loads of family and play music on the front lawn under some giant oaks that no longer grow in front of that house. Aunt Linda remembers her Grandma cooking chicken and rice in the wash pot and  listening to "Down to the River" in that setting. Dozens of cousins would attend. They also took their music to other people's homes, entertaining people for fun.

Grandma Mary's father (Grandpa Silas) taught himself to do so many things. (I've already forgotten the whole list. Why wasn't I taking notes?) He was a dairyman and a farmer. He was a self-taught veterinarian, and since there wasn't another in the county, he would be called if a cow or horse was sick. He always knew what to do after running his hand over their back and giving them a brief check-out.

Aunt Linda remembers living on the farm with happy tears. She described how she preferred to be out working on the farm more than being in the house. After Memorial Day they were allowed to run around with bare feet. She remembers one of her favorite sensations was stepping in the furrows behind her father as he plowed up cold dirt. Just as a funny note, Linda was terrified of cats and her sister Elizabeth was terrified of chickens! I can't imagine two little farm girls being afraid of the seemingly harmless farm animals but they avoided them like the plague, going great lengths to avoid them.