When my mother was around 7, her parents moved from town to the old family farm; it was far enough away from town to be in a different school district, and worse, it was in a district with only a one-room school. As he was going to be starting high school that fall, my uncle would get to live in town with my grandfather's two maiden sisters, and my mother threw such a fit that she was allowed to stay there as well and continue to attend the town school with her friends. My grandparents both died when I was very young, so these great aunts were like grandparents to me and my brother, and we loved visiting them and never wanted to leave (why leave when you were thoroughly spoiled while you were there and never told "no"?).
Their house had a long, gravel driveway with a strip of grass down the middle, and each time we had to leave, as the car backed out and headed down the road, my great aunts would step onto the driveway and wave to us, and I would turn and look out the car window, waving mournfully back to them until I couldn't see them anymore; occasionally, I would catch a glimpse of them as turned and walked back to the house, and each time I did, it made me painfully sad.
I now have two kids who are away at school, one in college, one in medical school, and when they leave after a visit home, I follow them outside no matter what the weather, and I stand near the end of the driveway, and I wave to them. And I don't go back into the house until I can't see the car anymore, and I make sure I never turn and walk away until their car is completely out of sight.
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| My beloved great aunts, Daisy and Edith, ca. 1960 |
Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge's Blog for Six Sentence Stories with the prompt "wave"
What bittersweet memories of your great aunts. If you'd told them it made you sad to watch them turn and walk away, they might have understood and stayed until the car was out of sight. They sound like the kind of people who would do that.
ReplyDeleteIt would have devastated them to know that it upset me if they turned around before we were completely gone!
DeleteAww I think it hurt them to see you go. Lovely six!
ReplyDeleteThey never wanted us to leave, but as an adult, I feel very sure they went in the house and collapsed in exhaustion when we did!
DeleteYour great aunts were very generous to take your uncle and mother into their home.
ReplyDeleteIt's a heart wrenching feeling, the leaving. Always, wanting, like the song... to stay "just a little bit longer" :) I too wave and wait until the other person is out of sight.
It was during the depression, too!
DeleteI hate goodbyes.
A tissue warning would be nice at the beginning. What memories! Amazing family ties!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Melinda! I needed a tissue when I was writing it!
Deletetotal visual on this one... nicely done.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Clark!
DeleteLove the picture and this post. I started my 30 year career with the Phone Company as an Operator in Information for Ohio Bell I was the only guy in that huge room with 150 ladies who all looked like your great aunts! It was such a wonderful time.
ReplyDeleteThey were the operators for the town of 400 where they lived. They retired in 1960 when the town switched to dial phones and the phone company gave them the old switchboard, which now sits in my family room!
DeleteTom said to tell he still has dreams about that driveway and house. They are good good dreams. He said driveway lead to their 1951 Ford.
ReplyDeleteTell Tom I do, too! And yes, they are always good dreams! The car was parked in a wooden structure they shared with the next door neighbor. The big rite of passage was when Ecie would let you sit in her lap as she drove
DeleteInto the garage and let you “steer”.
Love this Six of your memories! I could totally picture that long gravel driveway and of following people outside to say goodby.
ReplyDeleteMy mother worked at the switchboard of a large furniture store for a few years. I remember being fascinated by the switchboard.
Thanks, Pat! I used to play for hours on that switchboard when it was at their house!
DeleteWhat a great story about you and your aunts. My mother died when I was 3 and my grandmother helped to raise me. I will always be grateful for that.
ReplyDeleteLove the picture you've shared here. How cool to have that old switchboard.
Thank you, Susan! The switchboard is a real treasure!
DeleteI enjoyed your memories. I could see it all very clearly!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much!
DeleteI learned that one, too. I don't wave continuously, but the routine is one wave at each of several points along the departure route - with one last big one as they actually hit the road.
ReplyDeleteNot a lot of people do it anymore, tho'...
It's so homey to wave. When you drive in the country and meet someone on the road, you lift a hand from the steering wheel and give a wave. Especially farmers. They are big wavers and I love it!
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