Arkansas Traveler. . . . The final post

OK, Let's get this over with. . . .Saturday was cold and drizzly. Pat and I decided to drive way up the mountain to Oakgrove Cemetery. The last time I was in AR was when my Dad was dying. I came with Ron & Sally. My Dad recognized me when I came into his hospital room, grabbed my hand and kissed it. The rest of the time he was pretty much out of it. When he died in August, I did not return for the funeral......so I wanted to visit his grave and see the Flemings that were buried there. Interestingly, if you are born in Clarksville, you are assured of a burial plot. I told Pat to make her plans :) since she was born there, however, I am on my own since I was the first in my family to be born in CA. It was a looonnng way up there, but we knew we were at the right spot after driving the dirt road for miles and finding an outhouse beside the cemetery. When we got out of the car, it was freezing! We walked in, took a few pictures and then it started to snow. The little white spots across the front of Pat's coat is snow or maybe it was sleet. In any case, my hands were frozen! The wind was blowing and I think we stayed for 10 minutes. Here is my brother Mike's headstone. Back in the car, we traveled down to Clarksville, and to the cemetery where my grandparents are buried. This headstone is my aunt Patsy. I never knew her, she died in a car accident at the age of 17, the same year my brother Mike was born. This picture is an old one that Aunt Paula let us scan. Patsy is on the left, a friend of theirs is in the middle and Paula is on the right. Love the saddle shoes! It was time to head out to Aunt Edna's to pick up Mom. We said our goodbyes to Aunt Edna, Uncle Tony and a few other relatives and headed over to Aunt Paula's and Uncle Joe's to return the pictures they had let us borrow and to spend some time with them. They wanted to take us out for dinner, so we went to the local mexican restaurant.....interesting food. After dinner, we drove out to my cousing Gary's house. (Aunt Paula and Uncle Joe's son and brother to Pam-the hog farmer) Gary had just finished building his house and was a little under the weather, but he sure was happy to see us drive up. He showed us around the house and let us see the master bedroom which was under construction. We were laughing in this picture with Gary because his son Brandon said we looked like "The Simple Life". Brandon, along with his three young sons, has moved in with Gary and is helping with the construction. Here is Uncle Joe with his three great grandsons....can't remember their names, one is Zach, I think. The 2 younger ones definitely need to stay away from sugar....too much energy! We visited for a while, and then headed back to town. My dad's cousin Burl came over to visit when we got back to Aunt Paula's house. He hadn't seen me since I was 4 years old, but he thought I looked like his daughter and his brother's daughter. This is interesting to me because I have been told that I favor Aunt Paula and I thought that this was the Fleming side of the family coming through, but Burl is a cousin on my grandmother's side. So....I guess the resemblance comes through the McCartney side of the family. A new twist on my thinking. Anyway, Burl wants me to email him so he can send me a picture of the girls that look like me. I downloaded these pictures for Lauren. Back when she was in 4th grade, she came home talking about a cute guy named Joey in her class. I asked for his last name, and it turned out that he was my cousin Debbie's son. I had no idea that he attended that school. Anyway, I thought you might be interested in what he looks like now. This is Joey with wife Jessica. They are expecting a son in about a month and this is Joey with his daughter Cleo. I think she's 7 or 8 yrs. old. Anyway, there you have it.
We left on Sunday and when we checked in for our flight, we encountered a screening due to my Mom's driver's license being expired. We were forced to stand and wait while security went through every square inch of Mom's suitcase. When they were satisfied that she carried no wmd's, they gave her a boarding pass. When we went through the security to the gate....they patted Mom down! Poor Mom! How humiliating. At least the airport was furnished with the most comfortable chairs I've ever seen in an airport! We arrived in Ontario, where Paul picked us up and took us to my niece Joyy's baby shower. Lauren and Joyy Beanie and Jana No picture of Zack, he unpacked the suburban as soon as it pulled into the driveway and left.....Those newly licensed Teens! Long day, but glad to have stopped and spent time with Joyy. Don't even remember what time I got home....very tired and ready to sleep. Coming up, Mom's Adventures #2