Aunt Sis and the Propeller

Growing up in a close knit family is something I thank God for each and everyday. When I was a young child most of my family lived within 30 miles of our home. My mother and her sister had the good fortune to find two brother to marry so our two families shared the same family tree and boy was it crowded and full of life. We have all jokingly call our family tree a stick.


All should be warned, my sense of humor and the way I look at life has been strongly influenced by my family. As I attempt to share my life stories, my only hope is I can relay them in a manor that does them justice. I am certain if you read my blog for any length of time you will get to know several characters from my family. My only hope is that you grow to love them as I do.


Now for today's story.


Sunday in our family always revolved around church and family. Many Sundays played out the same, wake up, eat breakfast, get dressed in our best Sunday go to meeting clothes, gather up offering and Bible, head to Sunday school, come home, put on play clothes, eat lunch, visit family, later eat dinner and then back in Sunday finery for Sunday night church.


My parents have four children. My oldest brother is 14 years my senior, then a sister who is 4 years younger than him. Ten long years later, SURPRISE, I was born, followed closely (2 years later) by my baby brother.


In an effort to keep my mother from loosing her mind, Aunt Sis would take either Rocky or me to her house so mom could have a break. Aunt Sis has three daughters, all much like my sisters and all around the ages of my older siblings. Going to spend the day at Aunt Sis's was a special and wonderful treat.


The excitement of getting to go to Aunt Sis and Uncle Larry's for the day would lead some to believe this is the place where kids get to do whatever they want, run wild, you know jump on the beds, each lots of candy, dig in stuff. This could not be farther from the truth. There were rules and you had to follow them or you just did not get to go to her house for the day.


Every Sunday, Rocky and I would turn on the begging and pleading. This involved jumping up and down while saying "Can I go to Aunt Sis's?" as many times as it took to get a yes. Our cousin, Lowell, had usually been picked up by Aunt Sis and Uncle Larry so he was a given part of Sunday. Rocky and I were chosen as the winner of the trip to Aunt Sis's on alternating Sundays. This system worked well, as it provided a little break for my mother and gave each of us special time alone with our mom and on the flip side provided our special time with Aunt Sis. We were all very happy with the system.


You need to understand, we knew when we were loading up in the car to go to Aunt Sis's, we were going disregard the rules. We knew we were going to make Aunt Sis nuts. We knew...we were going to get a spanking with the fly swatter, (WE WERE NOT ABUSED, don't even try to go there) and still we could not wait to get there.


Upon our arrival at Aunt Sis and Uncle Larry's house we all changed out of our church clothes into everyday, play clothes. Aunt Sis and the older kids would busy themselves with making Sunday dinner. Looking back on Sunday dinner, I now know with a certainty, Aunt Sis was blessed by the Lord. It was like the story in the Bible about the loaves and the fishes. Fried chicken (mentioned in yesterday's blog) was the main course. One chicken was fried, up to ten people were fed and there were always two small pieces leftover for Aunt Lou when she stopped by later in the day. You figure it out. I am calling it a God thing.


After dinner everyone would find their favorite spot to lounge around. This is when Lowell and I would inevitably run down the hall in our sock feet and slide, or bang on the piano, or try to make the dog go into part of the house he was not allowed to go in, or hang on the clothes line, or any other number of things we knew were on the DO NOT DO list. Aunt Sis would say, "Are ya'll running down the hall?" We would say, out of breath from running down the hall, "No." Little did we know she was looking at us while we were lying about running down the hall. Once we noticed she was looking at us, while we were running down the hall, we would try to escape, without the customary spanking.

Don't be fooled, Aunt Sis was a professional. She would wind up that fly swatter and get it going in a circular fashion, much like a propeller. No one could escape. Even if we split up and ran on either side of her, we would both get caught. Wild West Gunslingers have nothing on Aunt Sis. She never missed her target. Once the spankings were out of the way we could get on with the rest of our day.

I love Aunt Sis and loved Uncle Larry until he left this world for a better place. I did receive her approval to shared this story before I posted it here. Yesterday, while reliving these moments in time with her we laughed until we cried. Although this was 40 years ago, it seems like it was just yesterday. Every moment spent with Aunt Sis and Uncle Larry was a wonderful gift from God.

Tune in tomorrow for: My Mother is not a garage.