I LOVE MY AUNT GRACE

Today my Aunt Grace made her transition from her earthly body.  As I looked to the west and the setting sun tonight here in Los Angeles, I thought to myself what is it that makes the soul choose to finally take that last breath?  How does the soul begin the journey into what is unknown to our human mind/experience?  Or is birth/death ALL part of the human experience? 

Aunt Grace has been sick for several months now.  I knew that it could be anytime but it's always a surprise when you get the news.  I took a long lunch and reflected upon my memories of her and Uncle Linville and our family visits to their house in Clay City, KY when I was young.

I remember fun times and plenty of food, especially when my grandmother Mary Alice would come in from Idaho.  When I was younger I remember riding over to a drive in car hop type restaurant just to get milkshakes.  In Clay City they had a soda pop that I don't know if it exists anywhere else in the country.  Its called Ale 8!  I LOVE ALE 8!  (It's like Mountain Dew!)  And my Aunt would always let me have one or two in a cold bottle.  Ah nothing like an 8 year old hopped up on SUGAR!

My Aunt Grace spoke her mind.  That's what I liked about her best.  I remember her and my great aunts along with my grandmother Mary Alice taking trips together and they would sing at the reunions.  We called them the "Sisterellas."
 
Grace is one of the younger sisters to my grandmother Mary Alice.  During the 70's we had some of our Chamber's Reunions up at Natural Bridge State Park, located in the Daniel Boone National Forest just 20 miles east of Clay City, KY.  Natural Bridge has wonderful camp grounds and we would gather together every odd calendar year in August to celebrate this family that had migrated from the coal fields of West Virginia. 

The patriarch of the family L. D. Chambers, my great grandfather, was still alive at the time of these reunions.  He and Lucinda had 10 children.  Maudie, Pearlie, Henry, Mary Alice, Franklin, Myrtle, Nellie, Esther, Grace and Thelma.  My Great Aunts Esther and Thelma are still with us.  

My Aunt Grace is someone that I will always remember as a strong Kentucky woman who would tell you the way it was.  Feisty and sometimes stubborn, she also loved to have a good time and told wonderful stories and jokes.  My impressions as a child and as a teenager is that she was an observer of life and would always have an opinion about things that she would share freely.  Some people like that, some people don't.  I applaud her for her individuality.  There is NOBODY like my Aunt Grace.

Found this image on Google Earth from Madgeray.  It's title:  CLAY CITY POND SUNSET

Much Love,
Gerry