October 24, 2011

you can't go home again, sorta'

this is a photo of my landmark for waukomis where my mom grew up and i spent a week or two in the summer with my great grandmother and aunt, when i was old enough to not be too homesick without mom and dad (my mom also worked here weighing the trucks...one of the few things that hasn't changed... except for the satellite dish, of course).

husband scott and i drove up to enid, oklahoma, saturday to celebrate with my aunt and uncle and their 50th wedding anniversary. i haven't seen my cousins since the last family reunion which was about 10 years ago. some had changed enough for me to almost not recognize them and some looked exactly like they have been for so long, making me wonder which category i fell in...i hope it was the latter.

i hadn't seen one aunt since i was a little girl and couldn't place her until my mom told me who she was and then, it clicked. of course. she had hardly changed at all. i don't know why i don't keep in touch with cousins and aunts and uncles. they are family that i have so many warm and fuzzy memories with them and they are so nice!

at the same time, it's distressing to see who is still alive and who isn't and how some have struggled with health issues. i want time to stand still to be able to go back and see that nothing has changed, but it does.

i don't like it...not one bit.

the party was held at the church where my aunt and uncle were married, and i was baptized, and where my mom and dad were married, and where we went to mass every time we were in enid on a sunday or sometimes, saturday. and...we went to oklahoma a lot while i was growing up.

during mass, i would look at the stations of the cross and try to memorize the order (i still don't know them all). in the70's or 80's, the stations were painted over in brown and i was soooooo disappointed. i loved the painted surface. brother john went into the sanctuary before mass to show my sister-in-law and he came back to tell me that they had all been stripped and brought back to their original state. i was so excited. i hate change, especially when it interferes with my childhood memories. however, i noticed during the service that the altar looked different. uncle gene told me that it was all taken down and now, it just doesn't look right. i hate change. luckily, the stained glass windows are the same. they are amazing and the pews are still as uncomfortable as ever which i didn't mind since that is how i remember them.

i wish that we had more time to go to my aunt and uncle's home. they live in the same house that my grandparents lived and farmed and where my uncle and dad grew up with 6 other siblings!!!

but, husband scott had tickets for the rangers game (go rangers!) and we had to get back. (he gave up his world series ranger ticket for saturday's game to go to the celebration).

on our way home, we went through waukomis and snapped a few photos.
this is where my mom grew up. i have always liked the shingled sides. mom says that the chapmans live here now, but do you see? the screen door is still the same with a 'p' for pittman on it. the flower garden is gone and it needs a coat of paint, but it still looks enough the same to bring back good memories.

so you can go back home again...sorta'

i'm off to florida to celebrate turning 50...my sister that is...not me (i get to look forward to 55 next birthday...rats).

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