Celebrating My Parents' 50th Wedding Anniversary - Day Four - Virginia

Monday morning Christian started his 27 hour journey home.  His trek was quite involved....

Amtrak train from Virginia--->Union Station, Washington, D.C.
Metro from Union Station, DC--->Reagan Airport, DC
Reagan Airport, DC--->LaGuardia Airport, NYC
La Guardia Airport, NYC--->Amsterdam Airport
Amsterdam Airport--->BERLIN!!!

27 hours!  He worked really hard to spend this weekend with my family and me.  It meant a lot of all of us. 

So we dropped him off at the train station at 9am and amidst a lot of tears and hugs said good-bye for now.

Tate and I then headed off to my aunt and uncle's to meet up with my parents and Lindsey for a day in Hampton.  We needed to visit our loved ones who have gone home, and  my dad wanted to stop by his childhood home and my mom's.  We also wanted to hit some 'hot' spots of their days of dating!

We loaded up into the car on that gorgeous Monday and first went to visit my mom's mother.  I love graveyards...I love reading the 'stories' of those laid to rest and remembering not only the ones I've come to visit, but looking at the other tombstones and connecting others to our family.  My grandmother and her family are buried in a lovely, small church cemetery...the same church my mom was baptized in when she was a young girl. The church has been completely re-done, but my mom was able to find the exact spot she was baptized at all those years ago. 

My mommy's mom, my Grandma Lynch

My great aunt who raised my mommy...Aunt Julia.
We were so sad that it seems my Uncle PH's grave
has been moved.

Reflecting and missing those who have gone home.

More family...

Family ties are strong here...

My mommy was baptized right here
in this spot!  :)

From my grandmother's cemetery we made our way to the military cemetery where my dad's parents are buried along with one of his sisters and one of his brothers.  It was a gorgeous, beautifully blue day as we walked along paying our respects.  In the midst of all of our memories, two fighter jets flew over the cemetery.  What a blessing and a beautiful sight.

My daddy's parents' graves...goodness I loved them so much!

My Grandma Cunningham 

My Grandpa Cunningham

My Aunt Katherine

My Uncle Wade died very suddenly almost two years ago.
This was our first trip home that he wasn't there to hang out
with us.  I miss him.  So very much.  His voice, his laugh
his joy.  Just him.

And I know my dad misses his brother
more than he will ever say.

By then everyone's tummies were a tad rumbly, so we found a place to enjoy some lunch.  It's rare we go out to eat here at home together, so it was a really nice time.

From the restaurant, we headed off to see where my dad grew up.  I spent many a summer vacation in this house, and I can still remember the smells, sounds and love in that house!  We'd drive up, circle around to be in front of the house, then Kellie and I would run up the front walk into the house.  Daisy, my grandparents' Shitz-Zu would come racing around the corner, skidding on the hardwood floor, jumping all over our skinned knees and legs for lots of hugs.  My beloved grandmother would come of the yummy smelling kisses for big warm hugs and my grandfather would come out of the living room to pick us up and snuggle.  The house looks much the same, new paint, but otherwise just the same....I would know that house anywhere.

I so wish I could have taken him inside
to show him where I used to sleep
and play when I visited!

Then we headed over to the house where my mom grew up after moving to Virginia when she was 7 to live with her aunt and uncle along with two of her sisters.  We spent many a summer night in that house too visiting my Aunt Julia and Uncle PH.  I can vividly remember my Uncle PH sitting in his rocker in the front room, and my Aunt Julia in the hot kitchen cooking away.  Meals were in the dining room which was so formal.  The 2 back bedrooms were stiflingly hot, but we stayed there many a night with just a fan on the dresser.  Those were the days.

My aunt and uncle's house where my mom lived!

The elementary school my mom attended...right across
the street from their house!

My parents met when they were preteens, and they have many stories of their initial dating.  My favorite is the one they tell of how my mom walked over to her friend Clara's house who lived right around the corner from my mom.  She had told my aunt and uncle that she was going to hang out Clara's for the evening. (you can see where this is going)  In reality they planned to go to the movies with my dad and Clara's boyfriend.  They met the boys at the bus stop just up the road from Clara's house and just a couple blocks up from my aunt and uncle's house.  Unbeknownst to my father, my mother didn't have permission to go.  Imagine his surprise when a black car passes them by, screeches to a halt and burns rubber going in reverse and screeches to another halt in front of them at the bus stop.  My aunt had to simply roll down the car window, and my mother made her way into the back seat of the car.

The scene of the 'crime'!  Right there on Shell Rd!
The bus stop was right there!!  LOL! 

My mom demonstrating how my uncle backed up!

I can't believe my dad asked her out again after that!  :)

My parents and Lindsey headed off to Hampton University to see the high school my mom attended (Phoenix High School is now part of the HU campus) after dropping Tate and me at my aunt and uncle's as we had to return our rental car.  Tate had a few minutes to play with Jalen who comes there after school.  After I returned from the car rental place it was time for dinner, and our time with our family was quickly winding down. 

My cousin, Adrienne came to hang out for a bit and the adults ate dinner after I got Tate in bed and asleep.  We had an early flight out of Richmond, so I needed him to be in bed with a 530am wake up in his near future.  I got to hang out with my aunt for a bit that evening.  An evening that we sadly watched the events unfold in Baltimore in the wake of the death of Freddie Gray. 

Family.  We go years and years without seeing one another due to time, distance, lack of funds and time, but once we're all in the same vicinity it's like we were never apart.  Like Adrienne said, we are thick as thieves.  Which is why I know it was so important for my dad that we spend this milestone in his and my mom's life with their family.  Nothing else really matters...not money, not other people, nothing.  It's all about family.  My grandfather instilled that in him, and he's instilled that in me.  It's one of the reasons I'm sure to make it back to NYC as often as I can, so Tate can spend time with his NYC cousins, and we young people on my dad's side of the family need to make an effort to keep our kids in one another's lives. 

My dad spent the night with Tate and me at my Aunt Brenda and Uncle Melville's, so he could just wake up and take us to the airport which was just over an hour away in Richmond.  We were on the road at 6:10 and at the airport by 7:30.  Lots of hugs and kisses good-bye to Papa and Tate and I were on our way back to the Lone Star State.

And this time I kept up with my keys!  But I lost my ticket telling me where I parked!  Thankfully I had a pretty good idea where I was, so the shuttle driver only had to drive us around for a minute or two.

On our way home!
My parents and Lindsey returned the following day!

It was such a lovely weekend.  One of the best I've had in a long time.  There isn't anything I would change or do over, except have more time with Christian and all of the family.  It's so sad how we don't know what we're missing until we're together again.  It's just amazing to me though how strong our ties are.  And our faith.  How strong our faith is.  Family and God...nothing more is needed.  

Thanks to my parents and their 50 years of marriage I know that to the depth of my soul.