A Special Time with Aunts and Cousins

I was so blessed to host a lunch for my aunts, an uncle, and a cousin.

The aunts spent the morning looking for shells at Lido Beach and then came to 

my house for a lite lunch of chicken salad sandwiches 

and spinach, strawberry salad.

  My sister, Joyce, topped our meal off with a 

yummy, chocolate dessert.

After a fun conversation and looking at old dishes 

(of which some of these are pro's and suggested that I put at least one of my 

dishes under close guard until they leave the area! ha!),

we took a trip to Goodwill to see what bargains we could find.

I thought this sign was so cute!

The Wagler family is a huge family with lots and lots of relatives.

When you only have a limited amount of time to be in the area 

it is hard to find time to visit everyone you would like to see.

These sisters came up with a simple solution...

have an Open House.

So they made it known that there was an Open House from 1:00-3:00

for whoever wanted to visit to come.

(Bring your own chair!)

 Wednesday evening Myra (cousin/neice) hosted the aunts for dinner.

She served a delicious meal of enchiladas, mexican rice, several salsa's with chips, 

jello salad and topped everyone off with strawberry delight.

We sat and talked of how Grandma Wagler delivered thirteen babies

at home and how much she paid for each delivery.

She had no baby scales so she 'guessed' about how much each one weighed.

She also allowed the other children to pick out the names of the babies as they came.

Mom and Aunt Dorothy assisted with the birth of Aunt Ruth (the youngest).

I don't think they recommend children helping deliver babies.

It was also interesting to hear about their transportation to church while they 

were still Amish.  I think it was like a van/buggy and sometimes the kids would have to all get out 

when they went up a hill.  Grandma was never happier than when the children were 

all tucked around her.  She also spent many evenings reading aloud to the children.

And Grandpa's reputation was that someone would hate to get between 

him and his children.  Many of the grandkids also remember riding to town 

with Grandpa for a bottle of "pop"......and stealing pop out of Uncle Duane and Uncle Junior's cooler.

Before they had electricity, they read by kerosene lamps.  It was not unusual

to be happily reading away when someone would need to borrow the light

to go upstairs, so you sat in the dark until it was returned.

Most of the aunts also remember when the bathroom was put into their house.

It sounded like there was some wheelin' and dealin' going on to 

have the bathroom put in!  :)

Along with laughing til our sides hurt, there were also tears as we

remembered our cousin/neice Judy, who passed away suddenly this winter.

We can still hardly grasp the concept that she is gone.

She was the first direct relative to pass away and is greatly missed.

We also talked about Uncle Mark (Dorothy's husband) who passed away 19 years ago

and Steve Thomas (niece Cheryl's husband)

Thursday was departure day for those from Michigan.

While not really ready to leave, they were ready to see their families again.

Some got a good dose of Vitamin D yet before they headed into the cold.

While others protected their skin from burns under the porch, 

we were all entertained by neighbor, Fannie Jane.

Fannie Jane is a widow lady who enjoys people and can keep 

a whole group in stitches from her random remarks and sense of humor.

(by the way, this is in front of Aunt Rose's house)

Aww, how sad... it is time to leave.

But as Aunt Lois said, "We can't say 'Hello' if we don't say 'Goodbye'".

Uncle Danny taxied them to the Tampa Airport.

Aunt Dorothy, Mom and I visited Vera Overholt's new bookstore

in Pinecraft afterwards, which was very interesting.

Special memories of the Wagler Sisters' reunion in Sarasota.

Nieces:  myself, Pam, and Myra

What an important role aunts play in the lives of nieces and nephews.

These aunts are all pretty special people and will probably never

know how much we all love them

and all the special memories we have of good times at 

Grandpa and Grandma's house.

There are a whole "herd" of us grandkids and great-grandkids

and many times they worked hard to feed us all and clean up after us.

Praying God blesses them with many more

 happy, healthy years together!

And just for the record...

we officially extend an invitation to the seven uncles

(and all the in-laws)

to come to Sarasota and enjoy time together

and load up on Vitamin D.