The "A 'Remember When' Moment!" Story

My Aunt Lois and Uncle John

 It was an ordinary day.  Traveling to North East, Maryland with my Aunt Lois and Uncle John for lunch at the World Famous Nauti-Goose (as their t-shirts say) located along the Elk River in North East.     My aunt was a late arrival in my mom's family and is only a year older than I, so we really had the chance to grow up together.  As we traveled south on SR272, we talked about the "good old times" in her and my mom's family.  Her father, my grandfather, went by Grandpap to me and was the center of many of our stories.  My wife, Carol, said she remembers when we invited Grandpap and his girlfriend Irene, as well as my mom and dad, to supper one evening when our children were still very young.  We were seated at the dining room table having supper and passing the plate of chicken around the table.

My Grandpap was part of a big family.  He is seated on the
far left with coat and tie with his 5 brothers and 5 sisters.

When it reached Grandpap he took a chicken wing off the plate and put it in his shirt pocket.  The look on our kids faces was priceless.  They looked at him, looked at each other and then at us.  Grandpap at the time was struggling with Alzheimer's and had no idea what he had done to cause such a stir.  Tough to explain to our impressionable children that Grandpap didn't do it on purpose, but what he did seemed funny to them.  Then, as he was leaving, he walked past a table that had family photos on it and he picked up one that had my mom (his daughter) and dad on it.   He said "Now that's a good looking woman."  Needless to say he was correct, but when my mom told him it was her, he didn't believe it.  As we continued with the story I thought how funny it was at the time, and still is rather humorous, but it was at the expense of my Grandpap who had no idea what he did to cause such a stir. The disease eventually claimed his life, but our memories of him throughout our lives was always one of a fun, jovial great person who loved his family and could make some of the best Orange Blossoms and THE BEST chicken corn soup.  He loved making the soup and trying to find an ear of corn with a silk worm in it so he could see who would get the worm in their bowl of soup.  

My Aunt Lois on left and me standing at Crystal Beach in the 1950's

Our day reminiscing and having lunch was a joy.  As we dropped them off Lois said was ready for our next trip to the Chesapeake and wanted me to take all of us to Crystal Beach where we enjoyed many summer vacations together as children.  That's next on my list!  It was another extraoridnary day in the life of an ordinary guy.