Make Your Misery Your MInistry

Gloria Peacock Kimmel

December 14, 2016 · 

I heard this from a movie today. "Make your misery your ministry."

Amen to that!

All of us have things that we have overcome. Some of us had trying childhoods, marriages, troubles with family members and yet we are all here today.

I can't touch on most of the misery of my life but I plan to keep sharing when I feel led. Hopefully in that way, any of you that may be having a tough time of it will know that you can get through it. It may not feel like it today, but I can guarantee you that things will change and it will get better.

I am thankful that no matter what has happened in my life, I have been able to find a smile. What an incredible gift that has been all these years and I am eternally grateful for it.

Ghandi said.. " Be the change you seek." I believe that. We can complain about it or we can come up with a solution. Daddy taught me to never complain unless I had a way out of it or a way to try and fix it. I try to do that but I am human and often fail.

Thank you to all that have been reading these daily books I have been writing. Today it is going to be short to give you all a break. lol.

My prayer is for all of us to find solutions or at least have a good pair of boots.... Love to all, Kimmee

The Gift Of Life

Gloria Peacock Kimmel

December 11, 2012 · 

Sometimes early in the morning before I get my eyes adjusted to being awake, the geese look like statues. LOL.

I hope that this morning will be all that you wish it to be and that tomorrow will be as well!

I am counting my blessings this year. Among them are my family and friends. The road I have been on the past 8 years has taken me places I never thought it would. We have expectations of where we are going and then the road turns for us.

The road turned for me last year when I faced homelessness and again this year when I faced it again.

I had worked most of my adult life, buying my home in upstate NY, educating and taking care of my children, and then illness roared its ugly head into my life. My life changed so much I hardly had time to adjust but I tried not to let life defeat me.

It wasn't easy to wear a smile some of the time but I always remembered what Daddy said, when we complained of tough meat. He said, it would be tougher without, and he was right.

Life could have been easier if I had been able to continue working as a Nurse and retired like I had planned at 55.

But who wants something easily gained?

The life I was given was rewarding and challenging. It kept me always searching and seeking higher ground. It made me grow as a being and made me get rid of things that kept me bound.

It was hard to look at illness as a gift but it has turned out to be just that.

My friend Joan Schaublin gave me something a bit ago called "Sitting with Discomfort" by Jeff Foster and I realized that was what I have been doing most of my life. And I have gained the gifts of that for my life.

Don't run away from hardships. They create who we are. They did it for our parents, our grandparents, and great grandparents.

I just wanted to thank those friends that have walked with me, cried with me, and laughed with me the past few years. I could not have known I would need you; but when I did, you were there.

All my love, Kimmee

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The Turkey Dance

Gloria Peacock Kimmel

December 8, 2016 · 

My Thankfulness involves Nature today. A wonderful healing for my spirit always...

Back in 1982, I was looking around for a house to invest in for my old age and found an ad in the paper for one. I arranged to go back and stay in this little place for two weeks and I fell in love with the Amish, the area and the quaintness of the DePeyster Village where the house was.

I bought this house 3000 miles away from where I was living and by 1984 had sent money back to the renters for repairs and was looking forward to moving and getting settled in.

I am a Florida girl born and bred and had never experienced any REAL cold. LOL. I finally got a chance to move to my "dream" home a few years later in 1989. The 7.1 earthquake had happened in San Jose/San Francisco area where I had lived for a long time, and I thought there is not a better time to move on out of here. LOL.

We arrived after an eventful 8 day journey with a 24 foot truck, two other pulled vehicles and what looked like a convoy moving from California to Upstate NY. The truck broke down only 50 miles from our destination on a cold day in December, with 3 feet of snow on the ground. The house was cold, dark, and empty as the renters had moved out a month prior to our getting home and the house was full of rodents trying to escape the winter cold.

We had such a hard start to our life there but my children were little troopers. The furnace blew up and black smoke invaded the home within a week of our arrival. The mice had to be extracted and they were hesitant to leave. LOL. The furnishings arrived a few days later and we were in!

Little did I know that the next 18 winters would be one of survival, many hardships, and tragedy as my marriage fell apart.
I have written these things down for my children but I don't think they will ever want to read about them. We lived them...

One upside to the move was the cemetery.. I have told you all what a nut I am about History and Genealogy and within a short time I discovered that my Kith and Kin were buried 1/4 mile from the very home I purchased. It was a discovery that made me sure I was in the right place at the right time.

I could write all day long about all the things I found while digging in the garden that made me know I was home. The dolls, the toys which included marbles, little metal trucks, a large 1900's wagon, and many medical bottles and such. Since I was a doll collector, a Nurse and loved old things, it made my day!

In the early crisp mornings before winter, I would go out to my picnic table and drink my coffee. I would have to bundle up because Thanksgiving was approaching and it was pretty nippy, but I wanted to see what ever nature wanted to show me.
One morning as I was sipping my coffee, out of the woods came a magnificent wild turkey followed by two females. He has his feather extended fully and was prancing around trying to attract one of both of the females. He danced and wiggled, flapped his majestic wings, and the females avoided him like he was the plague. I said to him, you are going to have to do better than that to get their attention and just then he did.
He started moving his head up and down in a ballet type move. At least it was as graceful and his wings seemed to sway up and down. It seemed like slow motion, it was so incredibly beautiful. I could not take my eyes off this amazing dance he performed for me and for the two other females of whom, he finally had their complete attention. My coffee grew cold as I and they wallowed in this magic moment. I have thought of this so many times over the years and have always prayed to be worthy of such a gift.

This was but one of the many magic moments that started my day as I sat at the picnic table or my thinking rock.

The house still stands today and a new family lives within its walls, but my spirit will linger I know, as long as it is there. I put down roots in those early mornings, in the rocks, in the trees and the over 200 bulbs that I planted around that place and it brings me comfort knowing that it lives somewhere..

I love you all so much and pray that thankfulness of Nature will heal and nourish you as it does me.... Always, Kimmee

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A Boy Named Joe

July 22 ·

I couldn't sleep tonight. Too much pain and too many words in my head. I was thinking about this boy that my sister and I knew really well growing up. He lived on the outskirts of Jay with his Mom and Dad even though he was grown and had a job. He was so kind to me and Donna and we loved him. He was like an older brother to us, but looking back I think he was sweet on either one or both of us.

He did not seem to have a lot of friends and I think it was because he was bullied and made fun of as a child. He had what everyone called a "Harelip" back in those days but later I came to know it was called a Cleft Palate.

These are regularly taken care of today so that you almost never see one in our country, although we still hear of them in other ones. We have whole teams of doctors and nurses that go there to fix them free of charge to the families that can not afford them. Some of them are so bad that it is a wonder they survive at all and yet they do.

His mother talked about how she had to feed him so carefully when he was little and she did a good job, because he made it

Joe was a handsome boy about 5 years older than me and he had a brand new baby blue 66 Chevy Camaro and it was beautiful. He would pick us up in his car and we would go skating in Milton, or to Flomaton to eat and sometimes to the drive-in that was in Century.

I wish I could remember the name of that little diner where we would hang out in Flomaton. It was on the left side of the road past where the Credit union is now and it was a hot spot for teens. Donna will remember the name of it. It had a juke box and we would play a quarters worth of tunes. The owners let us blast it so loud that you could be outside and hear it. I don't remember a cop ever coming to break it up while we were there. We were just kids enjoying music, sitting in our cars eating french fries and a burger. My favorite one to put on was "Wooly Bully" by Sam The Sham and the Pharoahs. Their second hit was another favorite of mine too. " Hey there little red riding hood. You sure are looking good."

I could get 5 tunes for a quarter and those two were always on the list
.
There were such great names for groups back then. Herman's Hermits, Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Monkee's, The Animals, Tommy James and the Shondells and so many others. Some of the song titles were kind of funny too. "One eyed One horned flying purple people eater" is one that comes to mind and it was still hugely popular in 1966.

I could talk all day about the music of the 50's and 60's. Real music.. lol. But I am getting off the topic of our friend Joe.

I remember so many things about him. How shy he was. His laugh, the way he talked because of his cleft palate and the way that he always smelled so good. I think he took extra care because he had two girls in the car with him and it made it feel good. I know that other guys would look at us when we were out and he would puff out his chest a little because he had two home grown farm girls in his car and they didn't. lol

He drove us everywhere and often paid for us to have extra things if we didn't have the money. He had an 8 track in his car and kept a variety of tapes in there for us to sing too. He loved to hear us sing. Donna and I regularly sang in churches in the area but when we were out of church, we loved country music. Joe used to tell me that I sounded just like Dolly Parton and he thought I should go to Nashville and try to make it. We did go to Nashville later on one of our trips with Daddy but I never pursued a singing career and neither did Donna, although she could have.

We loved going skating and Daddy would let me drive his big ole black Chevy if I wanted to go to Milton even though I only had a learner's permit. Kids drove back in those days. Usually a tractor first and then what ever car or truck your daddy had.

We weren't molly coddled kids back then. We drove, we swam in snake infested creeks, sometimes there was an alligator or two and we did dangerous stuff. We got hurt, we healed and did some more dangerous stuff and sometimes we got in wrecks.

We had a little wreck in Flomaton near Nall's Store one night and instead of worrying about his beautiful car, he was worried about me being in the front seat and being hurt. Donna and I took turns riding shotgun and I was in front that night. It hardly made a scratch on his car cause we were only going about 30 mph and he had hit the brakes pretty good when the car stopped in front of him. We were not wearing seat belts as they didn't require them back then, but the car was made of Good ole American steel. A car could take a lickin and come out none the worse for wear in small fender benders, unlike today. You sit on a car now and you would dent it. lol

I wish that you all could have known Joe Kelley. Donna told me sometime ago that he had tragically died and I was so sad but I am happy that we had spent many Saturday nights together tooling around Jay, Milton, Flomaton and Brewton.

When I got my Mustang a couple years later, we did not see him as much as before. My attention turned to boys and I thought of Joe as a brother so I started dating and we started seeing him less.

I am so thankful for Joe. He was a perfect gentleman at all times, respectful and kind. When I look back on those times now with my memory eyes, I can see how mean some people were to him. They snickered, just like they do today at someone who is different. We think we have gotten worse today with bullying and maybe we have, but there were bullies back then too. Maybe not as overt or as many because parents would wail the tar out of you if you treated someone badly or made fun of someone within earshot of an adult. It didn't matter which adult it was. You were as likely to be cuffed by your older brother or your Aunt as you were your Daddy.

Joe deserved all the best in life and I hope that he got it. I seem to remember that he had a bad marriage but I don't know if he ever had any kids. If he did, I hope that they know what a special man he was.

I miss him and am so thankful that he took care of us for a couple of years. He made sure we were safe when we went out and he enjoyed himself also. I don't know if there are guys like him around today and if there are, if anyone would notice them, but I hope there are.

He was the best. RIP Joe Kelley. Two little girls from Jay will never forget your kindness and charm.
Love, Kimmee

I couldn't find a google image of a baby blue 66 Camaro but this is a 67 in a little darker blue, so people can kind of get an idea of what we were riding around in.

(Addendum: my friend Maria knew the name of that little one room dive that we went to all the time. It was the Telstar! Thank you so much)

Gloria at 17 with her Bishop In laws

Gloria in Indiana at age 16 on a trip with Daddy and Donna

Daddy and Donna in Holland Michigan 

Joe and his family. Photo courtesy of Dana Lashell

The Early Years

These are my parents. My mother was a child of 13 when My daddy first met her. He was a man of 25. That is unthinkable in this day and age, but in 1937 , it wasn't. They married 3 years later when my Mom was 16 and my Dad was 28. I have read some of his love letters to her that my sister retains and it is obvious that he fell pretty hard for her. They were married in a double Ceremony with my Daddys brother Robert and Josephine Andrews on June 22, 1940. My mom had just turned 16.
My mothers name was Blanch Beatrice Morris and my Dad was Elmore Lee Peacock. You can tell by the past tense that they are both gone. Mom died in 1978 and Daddy followed her in 1986 due to an automobile accident. It was hard growing up with them as my parents until my Daddy stopped drinking when I was a teenager, then he became the best Daddy anyone could ever want and I am really thankful for that. They had 6 children together.


I believe that this picture was taken the day they married. My Father is on the right with Robert in the Center and my Uncle Hardy on the left.

This picture is the youngest one that I have of myself and I was about two. You can see that I was barefooted and the picture was taken in my front yard, according to my sister Ruby. This was the age I was when my parents entered into a legal separation. They never divorced but they never lived together for any length of time after that.

This is me at 5 with my younger sister Donna Gail. She is almost 3. We were inseparable as children because we were all that each other had at night when we were afraid. We are in front of the house that my Daddy built in 1949. My sister inherited the family home when my father passed away and still lives there. I visited recently after having been away for many years and it was a deja vue moment for me:-)

I have studied the early years in my family for almost 30 years now and I have discovered many things about my family that I am proud of and some that I am not.

When I began my journey in 1982 , I just wanted to know who I am, and where do my people come from? I made my first visit to the National Archives and was immediately overwhelmed by all the reels of things that I had no clue about. I did not know anything about how to look up the names or find out where they lived in any given year, but there were kind people there that helped me take my first steps.

One of the first questions that I had to ponder was would I be able to live with what I might find? I always ask this same question of anyone that desires to look into their own past, as many secrets have been hidden or “swept under the rug” and genealogy exposes them to the air again in many cases.


Some possible things that may happen is that you could be kin to your own husband and not know it.

Your Grandmother could be born in a brothel and you may never know who your G Grandparents were. This was the scenario to the kind gentleman leading me around and showing me where to find things. He softly asked me “ are you sure you want to do this?” Well of course I am sure, but I had my first heartbreak that very day. He introduced me to the census and I sat down with excitement starting with my Grandfather and when I found him, I also found my Great Grandparents but they were living apart. As I dug deeper, I discovered that they were divorced. My Great Grandfather James Hardy died in 1912, the year my Daddy was born, so they had an official divorce before 1900.

I had tears in my eyes as I looked at the evidence before me. I guess I was shocked because I was divorced and I had hoped that I was an anomaly in my family besides my parents. But it was not to be. We had a generational legacy of divorce in our family but it went far deeper than that. I uncovered tall tales that had ounces of truth in them and I discovered where I came from.

Here are a couple of photos of my Dad's parents, my Grandparents. Grandpa was named Lucious LeeRoy Peacock and Grandma was named Lula Arritta Creamer, after her Aunt Arritta Gilmore, her Momma's sister. Daddy ended up naming most of my 5 brothers and sisters with some type of Lee in it to honor himself and his daddy. By the time they got to me, Gloria Ann Peacock, they had dispensed with that for which I am thankful. Someone told me that my brother LeeRoy wanted to name me Suzy and I wish they had let him because I have disliked the name Gloria all my life. Many people have called me Annie over the years and now most know me simply by Kimmee and I like that!

Grandpa Lucious and Grandma Lula Creamer Peacock
They had They had 7 children but one died at aged 2 of Fever according to my Aunt Mary Elma, daddys sister.

My Aunt Elma, daddy's sister told me that the day this picture was taken Grandpa was in pain with his gall bladder or kidney. She could not remember which but Grandma wanted a picture so she cajoled him into it. They both look to be in pain to me:-)

My Grandmother was a remarkable person and the one that I credit for helping me turn out in love instead of hate. I had a hard start in life but she always showed me love and it is true that if one person cares, it can make a huge difference in ones life.



Grandpa Lucious and Grandma Lula Creamer Peacock in front of the house that I remember as a child in Jay.

Grandma Lula and her sister Lizzie Creamer

This is the census from 1930. You can see my Grandparents and my dad listed. He is 18 as he was born in 1912.

This is a photo of my Daddy's Grandmother and my Great Grandmother,  Amanda Diamond Peacock.

This is a photo of My Mothers parents. Her parents were 2nd cousins and both named Morris. Her Dad was named Admiral Dewey and her Mom was named Ola. Everybody tells me that I look like her and I think I do too. They had 7 Children.

This is how I remember Granddaddy Morris

He used to come to the house a lot when I was a teenager. He never remarried after Grandma Ola died in 1954. She was only 51 and the story is that she starved to death feeding her children from her own plate. Food was scarce in those days and Grandpa could not keep any kind of job. It was hard to feed all those kids and I believe that is one reason my mother was married off so young.

This is the 1930 Census with my Maternal Grandparents and my Mom at age 5. She was born in 1924.

This is not meant to offend anyone as I am a Southerner born and bred myself, but they say that genealogy in the South is easier because there are few branches on the tree and that has proven to be correct in my family. Cousins married each other, nieces married their uncles, and all in all it is a confusing line from the Morris and the McCurdys on both sides.

My Great Grandparents on Mamas side were both Morris' that married McCurdy's..


The line looks like this so as not to get any more confused than you are going too:-)


Myself Gloria Ann Peacock

Daddy
Elmore Lee Peacock

Paternal Grandparents
Lucious LeeRoy and Lula Arritta Creamer Peacock

Paternal Great Grandparents
Lucious= James Hardy and Amanda Diamond Peacock

Lula= Josiah Blackman and Mary Jane Gilmore Creamer

2nd Great Grandparents
James Hardy=Levi Jr.and Mary Elizabeth Johnson Bell Peacock

Amanda = Robert and Harriet Ray Dimond, Diamond

2nd Great Grandparents
Josiah B. Creamer= Michael and Mary "Polly" Odom Creamer

Mary Jane Gilmore= William and Caroline Finklea Gilmore

3rd Paternal Great Grandparents
Levi Jr.= Reverend Levi Senior and Jemima Pearson Peacock(Quaker)

Myself Gloria Ann Peacock

Mama
Blanch Beatrice Morris

Maternal Grandparents
Admiral Dewey and Ola Morris

Great Grandparents for Admiral
William Dave and Elizabeth McCurdy

Great Grandparents for Ola Morris
Ervin and Charlotte McCurdy


2nd Great Grandparents
William Dave= William "Bud" and Matilda Jane Spears Morris Said to be Indian

Elizabeth and Charlotte McCurdy= George Washington and Mary Jane Carnley McCurdy

Ervin = Burril-Burrel and Rosannah Carnley Morris (sister to Mary Jane Carnley)

Matilda Jane Spears. Unknown. According to Aunt Elma, Matilda is an Indian and her parents were killed by white on Mims Island and the rest of her family integrated with the white settlers to save themselves.


The reader is beginning to get the idea of how intertwined the lines are now. Elizabeth and Charlotte are sisters and their parents, my 2nd Great Grandparents were George Washington and Mary Jane Carnley McCurdy. GW served in the Civil War and was wounded. He was an invalid after that and died in 1879 having never recovered from his wounds.

Ervin and William Dave are Uncle and nephew adding further confusion.

This is a picture of Great Grandfather Ervin Washington Morris

Great Grandma Charlotte "Lottie" McCurdy She had 16 children, 13 of them lived. Story is that she was 12 when she got married and since she had her first child at 13 or 14 this is entirely possible.

I don't have any photographs of George Washington or Mary Jane Carnley McCurdy

I do have a picture of George Washington McCurdys father. His name was Elijah McCurdy and he married Barsheba Sunday. She was only 13 when he married her and he was her Guardian. He was in his 30's at the time. There are scandals on this side of the family right and left but I won't go into all of them at this time. So that the reader does not think that it is my Mothers side that had all the scandal, entire books have been written about the Peacock line of scallywags on my Fathers side:-)

My Maternal 3rd Great Grandfather Elijah McCurdy..This photo belongs to Leamanda Barnes, a cousin of mine. ( I had the photo colored)

The one thing that I have found on this journey is that if there are family secrets, they will be uncovered and you might not always like what you find, but find it I must so I journeyed on.


Elijah's parents are unknown and many are researching it at this time to find out how we can connect this line to Scotland and to King Robert The Bruce of Scotland. It surely goes back to there as the names all coincide with familial names from the 5 McCurdy brothers that came to this Country from Ireland in the mid 1700's. It is just a matter of narrowing them down and gathering the evidence to support it. You can say all kinds of things in genealogy but if you do not have the evidence to back it up, it is hearsay.

To be continued... Love to all, Kimmee

You can read about the Peacocks here:
http://www.peacockfamily.org/

And The McCurdy /Morris connection here:
http://jenniferhsrn2.homestead.com/mccurdy.html

Poem for my buddy Rick ..... Oct 29, 1963-Oct 6, 2017

Today is Rick's Memorial so a poem seemed in order. Many prayers to his family and friends and thank you for accepting me as one of your own. I Love you my family and friends and pray that a smile will find you today... Always, Kimmee

Oct 14, 2015
I talked with you 8 days ago and never thought life would change
I expected the next call to come, not knowing you were out of range
I did not know that when we talked, it would be our last
We talked of how we met and all the things of our past

We met a long time ago on Ds, I was 10 yrs older, took you under my wing
I could feel your beautiful nature and that your heart followed the King
We talked most every day then and I told you the day would come
When our talks were less as you found your way and you said oh no, you're the one

I will always call you sweetheart, as long as the day is long
I will tell you of my good days and when it is going wrong
I will be here to listen to your hearts desire and how life can go
Until we have walked around those holes and we are in the know

In the early days, you had romance on your mind
You had never had a friendship with one of a different kind
You walked that new path boldly, but sometimes were afraid
Till one day you made it and said, I'm so glad I stayed

I know what that old saying means to be awash with grief
I feel it from the top of my head, to the bottom of my feet
I feel in the morning air and when nighttime comes to call
I know that I will feel it in the Spring or when it is the fall

You will never leave me, a part of me you are
one day I will see you, when this wound becomes a scar
Together we will laugh, like we did once long ago
And tell each other as we did, we're the best people that we know

We could count on each other, even though months may pass
You were my knight in shining armour and I was your lass
I was your sweetheart and I still have that recorded, when I did not hear the phone
Your voice will have to console me, for now your spirit has flown

I told you of my hopes and dreams and maybe one day love
I never knew that one day a higher calling would come from above
It seems so unreal that I will never hear you call
I will do my honest best not to let my life stagger and stall

Without you, was a thought I had never entertained
I can't quite wrap my head around it, you still live there in my brain
I am sure many that were left behind have sung a similar refrain
So fly my bestest friend, my confidant and love
One day you and I will meet again, when I ascend the clouds above

We will sit together, no line between us then
We will be the best of friends as we have always been
I will tell you of my struggle to make the days go by
and you will tell me that you saw me and did not want me to cry

Only to cherish the time that we were given
and remember the days of talking til we meet again
You said for me to love like I had never been hurt
But Even when you said that to me, it sounded like a flirt

I will miss our waffle dates, you eating, me there on the phone
You talked of what you had done that week, and then I would groan
as you told me a silly joke just to hear me laugh
Often times, truth be told, it was on your behalf

They say parting is such sweet sorrow or at least that is the way the line goes
i say I will see you on the morrow will bells jingling on my toes
You left behind so many memories that make me smile again
You were the best man I know and an even better friend

It seems inconceivable that we can never share
your love of beaches and the rain or a heart rock to show you care
But I will recognize you when I open my eyes or close them in the rain
And one day my heart will not be squeezed with this intolerable pain

Goodbye my dear Rick as you travel. You were the best.. Always, Kimmee

( this photo is of me and of Rick in 2008 or 9)

Mama And Her Quilting Church Ladies

One of my friends shared an old quilt this morning and a memory of my Mother popped into my head. It made me realize that although my Mother left me at 18 months old with Daddy, that she came back to stay more times than I had remembered.

I have shared the picture of my Mother in church at Ebenezer and 5 of her children are with her. The only one missing is my brother LeeRoy. He was about 12 then so he may have been working that day. Mama went to church often during that time when I was 3 or 4. I remember going with her but more than going to church, the thing I remember are some of the church ladies coming to our house to sew on a Quilt.

I think that many homes had quilt frames in that day and generations before, so it wasn't unusual for a home to have one.

My Mother's was in the back room where Daddy's bed was in later years and where I slept when I came home to visit Donna in 2011. The quilt frame was on the ceiling with the working quilt stretched out on the frame. When the ladies would come to visit and work, My mom would go over to the wall where a rope pulley system was installed. She unwound the rope and the frame would lower. She would tie it off on the hooks at just the right height for the ladies to slide their wooden straight back chairs underneath it with their legs and in a perfect position to made beautiful even stitches over the section, they were working on.

I remember coming into the room to see my Mama and there were 6 ladies in there, including her. Three on each side of the quilt working away. I know that Aunt Dell was there.

Aunt Dell or Adella Morris was my Grandmother Ola's Sister and the mother of Aunt Jody. She lived right next door to her daughter Aunt Jody who married my Daddy's brother Robert.

Aunt Jody was the mother of my 1st cousin that I have talked about recently with Downs Syndrome, Glenda. They were a huge part of my sister Donna's and my life because they lived so close and we visited them all the time and we went over to see Aunt Dell often too.

The reasons were different for visiting each one. Aunt Jody had Glenda And Diann who we loved to play with but Aunt Dell had coconut Bon Bons!!!! They were all different flavors and my favorite was the Pink. I can still taste biting into them for the first time and every time thereafter. lol

The Church Ladies came often because it took a lot of stitches to make a full quilt. I don't know what they did with the finished quilt. It could have been a raffle at Church or it could have been for one of the church ladies. For as many quilts as they made, each one could have had one for those cold winter mornings.

Thank you Sherry for posting your old quilt this morning. I Loved how the memories exploded into my mind this morning. I remember the colors of the quilt this morning. It almost looked like Flour sack material patterns that they were using and it was beautiful.

It reminded me of those amazing people in my life that made quilts. My dear Aunt Thelma, Daddy's sister that made at least a hundred or more during her lifetime. My sister has one of the prettiest ones of hers with rings all over it. It is gorgeous. I gave my daughter Wendi one of her last ones and I am thankful to have it.

I lived among the Amish, some of the greatest quilt makers in the world, in my opinion, and I was lucky enough to buy one of the last ones that Grandma Sophia Miller made. When my sister Donna and I went up to get the last things from my home, I purchased a full sized quilt from Mrs Miller and I was privileged to have her sign it. They don't usually do things like that because it is considered prideful but I knew them from being the Amish Nurse so she did for me. It is a prized possession and one that is proudly displayed on my antique cedar Chest.

The last quilt that I will talk about is one my sister Ruby sent to me when her son and family came to visit me at my home in Upstate NY. She wanted me to have something of home so they brought me the biggest basket filled with goodies of Jay and home. Yellow pine, pine cones and leaves from Papa's old place, A boll of cotton, some boiled peanuts, home canned jams and jellies, countless hand made cookies and candy. (My sister makes the best fudge and divinity I have ever tasted), and this amazing quilt. I was overcome when they walked in with this huge basket of my childhood. The smells of the peanuts, the pine, and I remember burying my face into the cotton.

You don't realize what you might miss until you are away from it for 40 years. I thought I would get through one of these remembrances without a tear, but just thinking of that basket of home makes them fall freely.

We were so lucky to grow up in Jay, with its many churches where we become families and most of us were family. The many streams where we could take our shoes off and walk in for those hot summer days. The acreage to roam free playing in gullies, collecting edible plants, eating bullices (sp) off the vine til we were sick and catching crawdads for dinner.

I hope that you all have a wonderful day today, with remembrances of Church Ladies, old Quilts, Pink Bon Bons and our wonderful families that made us who we are. The times may have been hard for many of us, but we survived and we thrived to have our own families.

God bless all of you Jay people that helped shaped me and thank you for being a part of helping me be a better me... Much love, Kimmee