Lightning bugs

As I was watching Jack and Rachel catch lightning bugs in the back yard, it brought back many memories of good times at Big Branch.  Peg and I and Ted’s bunch would descend on Grandma for days. I guess that she did not mind because they just turned us loose to roam the mountains and creek.  We went inside to eat and sleep only. It is a miracle that none of us were ever bitten by a copperhead or rattler. We dammed the creek to make  a small swimming hole. We found grapevines to swing on ( and fall off of often, since you did not know how sturdy they were or were not until you crashed). We didn’t get much sympathy for injuries unless they were life threatening.  I vividly remember the day that I got into a yellow jacket’s nest. A large tree had uprooted and fallen across the creek. There was a nest in the root ball and I stepped directly on it.  Some of the bees actually got imbedded in my hair and they had to cut them out. (I am not exaggerating) It was painful but not fatal. Thank goodness, Carolyn was not born yet, she has allergic reactions to bee stings. And I do not remember which older relative  it was who had me yelling down a bug hole at the top of my lungs for the lady bug to come out.  We played Red rover and hide-n-seek until it got dark and then we caught lightning bugs. We would pull off their tails and rub them on our skin and make  bracelets and necklaces  that glowed in the dark. No one told us that this was animal cruelty. I briefly thought about showing this to Jack and Rachel but did not want PETA on my doorstep labeling them as future serial killers. This generation has the best and worst of things. My grandchildren and their friends have to be entertained. They have game cubes, game boys, Wei’s, trampolines, swimming pools, play sets and such.  They have missed out on so much by not having to be creative. They love to go to Granny Fran’s and explore.  It is a sad commentary on our world that even in the best neighborhoods we can not let them have the freedom the roam.

Aunt Deb’s Wedding Day

I remember Aunt Debbie’s wedding day. Jewel, Doris and Lois were there at our house also. I watched them primp and was fascinated that they were combing their eyebrows. Bill and Debbie were going to be married and go to Ohio. Bill had an apartment and a job there. To set the scene, Aunt Debbie was known as the “Queen of Big Branch”. She had apparently cut a swathe through the community and left a trail of broken hearts in her wake. The day wore on and there was no sign of Uncle Bill. I remember sitting in the front porch swing and listening to the talk. There were tears and a remark (gleefully, I thought) that maybe what goes around, comes around. Most everyone thought that she had been jilted. This was applachia in the 50’s and telephones were few and very far between. He finally showed up a little worse for wear. He had been in a car accident and had gotten there as soon as he could. My memory is a little shaky, after all it has been 50 plus years, but I think that they woke up the minister and got married around midnight and headed on out for Ohio. They lived happily ever after. We got to visit Uncle Bill after he had gotten a diagnosis of terminal cancer. I told him that story. He loved it, he had not known that she thought that she was jilted. He is gone but not forgotten.