2019

Visiting Family

   
Jim and Sue
1988

Today I visited my Uncle Jim and Aunt Sue who live in the country, out past Micanopy, near Shiloh and Flemington, places you won’t find on any map but known to the locals.  They live in what I call the old country, the country of my ancestors, the country of my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.  I felt a need to visit with them with the passing of my Aunt Dixie this past weekend.  Uncle Jim and Aunt Sue hold a special connection to me, being related to both my father’s Mixson side of the family and my mother’s side .    

It is a beautiful bright sunny day, a bit of chill in the air as I travel down the country roads to Jim and Sue’s house.  The house goes back generations, it was the house of my great grandfather, it was the house where my grandfather was born along with his eleven siblings of which my Uncle Jim’s father was one.  I asked my Uncle Jim today if he was born in the house and he nodded towards the front room and says, “Yes, in that room right over there, and I’ll probably die here too.”   As I glance back over my shoulder at the room he indicated, my heart skips a beat, for a number of years ago, I rented the old house from Uncle Jim’s mother, and the room he indicated was where I slept.  To think that I slept in the room where my own grandfather was born….    

As we sit in the comfortable chairs, my uncle tells me a story about the old times, of him and his father riding on horses to help a neighbor.  My aunt tells me of her grief and feelings for her sister that has passed.  I share some of my stories with them for this is family, and this is what family does, share.    

As I leave Uncle Jim and Aunt Sue’s house, I turn down the old road and I pass other old family houses, a Mixson house, Aunt Alice’s house and my grandfather’s where my father was born.   This is the Old Country, a country Deeply Rooted.  

1975 - The four Junior sisters
Dixie, Carole, Sue,  Barbara

1998 - The four Junior sisters
Dixie , Sue,  Barbara, Carole

more comming..