Down Yonder......

Wow...I am speechless, emotionally overwhelmed, excited and blessed. My spiritual and emotional garden is in full bloom. My great grandpa, Albert Hunter of Laurens, South Carolina left the most beautiful and endearing descendants. He was an outspoken, God fearing, all about Family kind of man. Talk about leaving a legacy.....well I spent the weekend being loved up by my kinfolk who did not even know me.... but remembered my grandmother Miss Minnie Bell, her siblings- Aunt Lucy (still surviving), Aunt Annie, Aunt Amelia, Aunt Frances and of course Uncle Albert and Uncle Willie. My Cousin Lillie Tims has performed some absolutely awesome research on our family's history and is working on a book. I plan on helping her get this completed and published within a short period of time, with a lot of prayer and help from the Lord. It is such an honor to have such a traceable and rich history demonstrating how a family can have such impact by working together and fulfilling the dream of loving thy neighbor, ensuring the elders are taken care of and remembering the past.

Sometimes I think about how as children, we traveled to South and North Carolina....as that is where our roots are. Daddy from Snow Hill, NC and Mommy from Gray Court, SC. Both of my parents came up from the South with their families for a better quality of life. When I look at the world today, after visiting this past August, I just KNOW there has to be a happy medium.

I did not visit mansions or elaborate gardens, I did not go to an exclusive hotel or experience fine dining, however I was with family. I stayed with Cousin Lilly in a trailer she is renting from the folks across the way. I took my Great Aunt Lucy for a ride into Simpsonville for a seafood birthday luncheon with other ladies we were related to in one way or another. We all had a glorious time introducing each other to one another and then too each other. I watched as Aunt Lucy gingerly wrapped up portions of her meal to take with her. I could only think about how much those hands could share with me if they could talk.

I love looking at the hands of the elders in our lives. Think of their journey, think of all they endured and how much pain they witnessed and felt? What an elders face does not share their hands will surely tell.

What will our hands say now that we have found alternative ways of survival......now that we have removed our hands from the earth? Now that by educating and strengthening our minds, we have the means to have others maintain the beauty that surrounds us. Will our hands reflect hard work or will that only be shown by a bank account? My Great Aunt Lucy farmed, took in laundry and raised many of the locals in Lauren's, South Carolina. There is no bank account legacy, even after coming from such a strong bloodline. She came from proud parents who were sharecroppers and she had to keep it all together through the great depression, while watching her parents and siblings all go to Glory...leaving her behind with the memories. Memories that she holds onto even today.

Don't feel sorry for Aunt Lucy. I kind of wish I could have her memories of a simpler time, of growing what was needed to survive, depending on the land to provide income and sustenance, on an old dusty road, by the reservation, in Lauren's, South Carolina.

Aunt Lucy has her days - good and bad and I am grateful for Cousin Lilly who lives in Lauren's and can check on Aunt Lucy from time to time. After all, back in the day, that is what families did. This is what families need to go back to going. When the extended family unit was an acceptable practice, we all took care of family without question and with arms wide open.

As we face today's challenges are we willing to embrace the family unit again? Can we open our arms wise enough to embrace and bolster up a family member who is in need...,like we used to do back in the day???

I embrace my Aunt Lucy who is in a home for the aged and longs to go back to the only home and land that she is familiar with. She keeps her clothing and personal items under her blanket on her bed for that day when she can return home. At 90+ years of age, she just might not need those clothes when she leaves the Home for the Aged, but you can't fault her for keeping hope alive and embracing the thought.

I LOVE YOU AUNT LUCY!