Seems appropriate to play this…
Anyway, Maggie says:
I am in Florida visiting family and I fly home tomorrow. I am already dreading saying goodby to my family. These thoughts are what inspired the topic this week. This week’s prompt is: Saying Hello and Goodbye
Did you live close by or far away from close family or grandparents? Very close. Mom’s family in particular: Walkie and Hicks (Mom’s parents) and my aunts (Mom’s sisters) lived within walking distance. Mom’s brother Jack and his family lived relatively close (maybe a half hour’s drive). When Walkie died and Hicks remarried, he didn’t move far. After Dad died, Grandma Holton and her sister Florence moved about a block away from us, and her brothers lived in the neighborhood. I could go on, but you get the idea.
How often did you see or visit extended family? Frequently, usually at least once a week, sometimes more. In fact, in seventh grade my reading teacher was my godmother, Fabulous Auntie Jill.
Was the coming together cheerful and celebrated in some way? Oh, for certain! It was always a big deal.
Which relative did you enjoy seeing the most? Why? Grandma and Florence, for sure. We were very close. Grandma and Mom were very close.
Were there relatives you dreaded visiting? If so, why? Absolutely not!
If you were the visitor, was the trip short and easy or was it a journey? A couple of times a year, we’d go visit Walkie’s sisters, Marie and Cash, who lived in South Shore on the south side. That was a bit of a trek, an hour there and an hour back. We spent a week with my uncle Tom (Dad’s brother) and his family a couple of times. They lived in Mantua, Ohio, and Mom would drive there. The first time we went, Mom had only been driving a couple of months. Grandma was with us, and somewhere along the Indiana Toll Road, she said to Mom, “Bunny, I hate to sound like a mother-in-law, but aren’t you going a little fast?” Mom checked the speedometer, which showed she was driving at over 90 mph. (Speed limit was 70 back then…)
Were your visits short or extended? If extended visits, where did you sleep? Bed, sofa bed, couch, floor? Most of the time, just a day. When we visited Tom and his family, we slept on cots in my cousin’s playroom.
When it came time to leave, was it difficult to say goodbye? Not really. By the time we left, we were ready to go.
How often do you visit extended family now? Never. They’re all in Chicago, we’re here in Atlanta, and my physical limitations make it practically impossible to travel.
If you could see a relative who is no longer alive, who would it be? Why? My father, of course. After him, Grandpa Holton (who died in 1939) and Dad’s sister Eleanor (who died before Dad was born). Dad’s been gone 55 years now. Hard to imagine.
See you next week with a brand new show!
The Sound of One Hand Typing 
It was great to read your responses, John. When we all lived close, it was great and visits, like yours, were frequent. When the trips then turned into 12 hour drives, leaving became much harder. It sounds like you had a great extended family. I am happy for you.
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I was blessed. No other way to put it.
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It was neat reading about your family. I loved my Oma but only saw her 3 times but they were joyous. She and Opavlived in Gratkorn, a small village, outside of Graz, Austria. My dad’s family came around but they had a very nasty streak. When my dad died, and the small sawmill industry was taking a beating my mom tried to save it. Wecended up selling it, my Uncle was the agent who made sure his friends bought the house for next to nothing. He took over the sawmill and the people then sued my mom for glass shelving, a light fixture and the outside doorknob. My uncle sided with them and his wife told my mom that my mom was the reason my dad died. They dropped the case when my mom found pictures of the doorknob way before they saw the place.
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It sucks when your family are worse to you than total strangers.
So are you German or Austrian? I know the language is (more or less) the same…
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No, I’m Canadian but of German descent. My oma was born in a small village called Schonewalde which translates to beautiful forest. This is near Wittenberg, Germany where Martin Luther was born. My mom was born in Wittenberg and they lived there until they escaped to the west in 1950. They lived outside of Dortmund, Germany and,because my aunt went to live in Graz with her husband, I think they went to Graz. My uncle found a small home I mean tiny, on the side of a hill because he lived the view, and bought it for his parents Oma and Opa, to live there. They did until 1987. My Oma died on Dec. 29th 1986 and Opa came to live with us June 2nd 1987.
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For some reason, we continue to say “we’re (nationality)” even if it’s been five generations since our ancestors came and the only places we’ve ever seen the old country is on TV and in atlases and National Geographic. Weird American tricks…
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How nice to read about your family, John!
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Thanks! I enjoy writing about them…
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I really loved reading this post John , lovely times remembered.
You picked the perfect song to accompany the post 💜💜
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You had the same song, but I hadn’t seen that video. But yes, they were happy times…
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Yes I do love Hello Goodbye one of their really good songs. This prompt seems to take us back to easier times when we were younger!
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Love reading about your memories. Thanks for the mention!!! Your Mother and Father’s wedding anniversary was right around now.
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Thanks! It was Sunday.
Years ago, Mom told us the story of your graduation from St. Ignatius School. Can I write that story?
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You’re a lucky man John but I think you already know that. Thanks for sharing with us.
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Not just lucky: blessed.
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Your family sounds fabulous! I have a pretty small family. One brother I see a lot in summer and around the holidays. My parents are gone now. My kids are both pretty far — four hours and 7 hours and every time they leave, I am really bummed out. I see them quite a bit, but never enough. Not sure they feel bummed out as much as I do when they leave! But I’ll go to Green Bay more often now that Dad is gone, over the winter. People are so lucky who have good families….
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They were definitely a blessing to me. Mary is also from a small family. I remember not long after we were married we went to a family gathering of theirs, and there were only about ten people there, and that was pretty much her entire family. I was used to a cast of thousands…
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