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My cousin Rachel Allen got married on July 8th in Corbin, Kentucky. Dad, Mom, and I drove to London, Kentucky on the 7th so we could attend. Cousin Donna Jean Fuller Flores had flown into Lexington, Kentucky from Florida and rented a car to attend the wedding.
Resting in Kentucky
Kentucky, home of fine horses.
Kentucky, home of fine folks.
I told Donna about the “Kennedy Compound” our family had there in our little corner of Dayton, Ohio with boocoodles of loving family around. Donna lamented that she grew up with little family around. She said that she felt closest to Cousin Lynn Smith Free as she was around her more than any of our other cousins. Uncle Dale Smith, Martha, and their daughter Lynn had lived near Grandma and Grandpa Smith. Whenever Donna’s family visited Gma and Gpa, she would get to see Lynn. Lynn is just over a year older than Donna and those visits during childhood seem to have forged a special bond.
I discovered that I am a very good sleep aid for Donna. Both nights of us being roommates, she fell asleep to me telling stories. That was very good for her, as she needed sleep, but not a good reference of my story-telling abilities! LOL!
Rachel was a beautiful bride and the couple had a lovely wedding. Rachel and Ryan both looked so very happy. I pray that they have many, many years filled with love, happiness, good health, and prosperity.
April Smith Hajjafar, Donald Smith, Loretta Nolen Smith, and Darryl Allen 
As it is with weddings, we got to see many family members that we haven’t seen in a while and it was nice to be able to see them all again. Rachel, Darryl, Karen, and Glenna are kin on both sides of my family; since my paternal Aunt Hortense married my maternal Grand-uncle John. We also got to see many of my Smith cousins and their families.
Of course Rachel’s parents, Darryl and Karen Burchfield Allen were there from Ohio. Glenna Allen and Karyn Sutherland Temple came in from Ohio. Donna Jean Fuller Flores came in from Florida. Several Kentucky family members were there. Philip Smith, his daughter Chelsea with her husband Jeff Cloud and children Ben and Susannah were there. Cousin Paul Smith and his mother Betty Farmer Smith were there. Aunt Sue Smith was there. Mom, Dad and I were there from Tennessee. It was a nice little reunion during a happy occasion. Our Allen and Smith folks are some good folks.
Jeff Cloud, Chelsea Smith Cloud holding Susannah Cloud, Philip Smith and Ben Cloud in front
Now while we were in London, there was a Frisch’s Big Boy convenient to our hotel. My parents and I like Frisch’s and we don’t have one close to us in Tennessee, so we ate there. I got an open-faced roast beef sandwich. That sandwich brought back sweet memories for me of when my cousin “Kookie” Linda Cantrell and I would “cook” dinner for her dad, “Bug” Olen Cantrell, before he left for work.
Every day we “cooked” a big Banquet sliced meat and gravy dinner and instant mashed potatoes to make hot shots, similar to my Frisch’s sandwich. One day we had turkey hot shots and the next day we had beef hot shots. Uncle Bug must have gotten tired of our “cooking” but he never complained and always seemed to appreciate our efforts, such as they were.
Sweet memory refresher.
Donald Smith and Loretta Nolen Smith, the paparazzi must be after them again!
We met at Cleo’s daughter Barbara Allen Caudill’s home in London. We got to visit with Barbara’s husband Kermit, her son Clyde, and his wife Beth and their little girl Millie. Millie really took up with Dad and called him Uncle Who. She was going around telling everyone that Uncle Who was here. We all got a kick out of that!
We saw Barbara’s daughter Nicole and her husband Matt, and their two children Logan and Isabella. Unfortunately, they left before I realized it and I didn’t get a family picture of them. Logan and Isabella have surely grown up a lot since we last saw them. Logan was talking about how he and his friends were building a campsite somewhere back on his grandparents’ property. I think that he even mentioned that there was a small cave.
We saw Cleo’s daughter JoAnn Allen House. It is hard to get to see her because she is often working at the store she formerly owned. Seeing her was a really nice surprise. We got to see Cleo’s daughter Brenda and her husband William Ray. They have a farm that involves lots of work so we were fortunate that there wasn’t an ox in the ditch that Sunday. We got to see Cleo’s son Arlin also. Her sons Ray and Willie were not feeling well so we didn’t get to see them but we did enjoy spending time with those cousins that we got to see. They are wonderful folks and we are blessed to call them family.
On Monday, Mom, Dad, and I left for Ohio where we were going to see more family. Normally, when we go to Ohio, we don’t get to travel through the mountains of Kentucky since we leave from Middle Tennessee. We got to see some different and pretty scenery since we were driving from London. I took photos from the moving car of the pretty scenery and also at the rest stop.
We drove to Loveland to see Uncle Wallace Smith. We visited with him for a couple hours. I always take him a batch of peanut butter fudge when I see him. I have never known anyone who loves fudge as much as Uncle Wallace. He loves it even more than Dad; and that is a LOT! I also took him a copy of the story “Grandpa’s Rifle” since he is one of the main characters in it. He indicated that it was a pretty accurate retelling.
While we were at Uncle Wallace’s, Cousin Darryl and Karen stopped by to visit him on their way home from their daughter’s wedding. We got in a bonus visit with them too!
Mom and I left Dad to stay with Uncle Wallace and we traveled the short distance to Aunt Lola Nolen Walton Gatliff’s home where we were going to stay. Aunt Lola had not been doing well and we wanted to be able to visit with her for a few days before we went back home.
Aunt Lola has trouble with her memory but she remembered us all and we were heartened by that. Still, it is sad when our loved ones seem to no longer be completely there. I hope the place where they are is at least a pleasant place to be.
Aunt Lola’s daughter Debby lives with her now so we got to see Debby. Debby took me to the grocery and we bought some things to cook to tempt Aunt Lola’s appetite.
Lola’s daughter Kathy and Kathy’s granddaughter AnnaKate visited while we were there. Kathy’s daughter Shawna and her other granddaughter Meagan visited for a while. Meagan is very busy with basketball and they had to leave for practice before supper. I thought that I would see them the next day, so I didn’t take pictures. Unfortunately, Meagan was busy with basketball all the next day too so I have no pictures with them. That evening, we had fried pork chops, fried taters, pinto beans and corn bread. Aunt Lola ate well and the rest of us did too.
Wednesday morning, Uncle Olen came to visit and we pinned his car in so he couldn’t get out until after he ate. Dad came up from Uncle Wallace’s house for a few hours so he could visit with Aunt Lola, her girls, and Uncle Olen too. We had breakfast for dinner with biscuits, pork chops, pork chop gravy, fried apples, and eggs. AnnaKate had never had fried apples and she said she liked them so I reckon our mountain blood is still flowing strong down through the generations. We got to enjoy our ancestor meal with several beautiful family members. I imagine that many other family members were smiling down upon us from Heaven.
Lola Nolen Walton Gatliff sitting; Debby Walton Angel, AnnaKate Snelling, and Kathy Walton Partin
I saw this wooly worm on Aunt Lola’s drive. I think the solid black portends of a harsh winter. I guess that a harsh winter following a summer of record breaking high temperatures is just yo be expected in these days and times.
While I was at Aunt Lola’s, I started to have allergy type symptoms; runny nose, itchy and watery eyes, a bit of a cough. In the past, I had had similar problems after staying with Uncle Ronnie for a few nights. He had dogs and smoked and I figured I was having an allergic reaction to them back then. Aunt Lola and Debby have dogs. They didn’t smoke around Mom and I but Aunt Lola was a smoker for years, so smoke was still around. I had no fever and was certain that I was just having allergy type symptoms while at Aunt Lola’s so wasn’t too worried.
On Thursday, Mom and I got up, packed our things and said our goodbyes. The older I get, the harder those goodbyes become.
We drove back to Loveland for another short visit with Uncle Wallace and to pick up Dad. Then we were on our way back home.
Now, while Dad, Mom, and I were traveling, my girls, Roxanna and Alexandria were traveling in Europe with a school trip for Roxanna’s high school German kids. They visited Munich and Heildelberg in Germany; Paris, Riems, and Carsaconne in France; and Barcelona and Madrid in Spain. Unfortunately, their trip was during a record heat wave through places that normally don’t need, and thus don’t have air-conditioning! Things got hot.
Since my girls were traveling the world, I thought that I would show them that their Papaw, Grandma, and Mom did a bit of our own world travels. Of course, we were too busy visiting family to actually visit all of the places, except for London, of course, but we were, at least, within an exit sign’s proximity!
Smyrna; ancient Greek city.
Alexandria; as in Egypt, where the famed ancient library once was.
When we made it home, my “allergy” symptoms were still going strong. I thought that since we had one of those government covid tests at home, I would just check to make sure that I was just having allergies. I called Cammy and had him run out to the car and toss the test in to me so I could be safe rather than sorry. Well, I took the test and it was positive so I was still sorry. What can one expect after traipsing all over the world?!
So a damper was placed over the joy of having such a good time seeing so many family members when I found out that I had likely been a Typhoid Mary spreading covid in my wake! I started to worry about Mom and Dad, Uncle Wallace, Aunt Lola, Uncle Olen and all of the younger folks that I had been around! I called Mom and Dad to tell them the terrible news. I let Donna know. I called Darryl and told him. He told me that Karen had tested positive too and some of the other folks who had attended the wedding had too. I let Debby know to watch Aunt Lola.
Unfortunately, she had been going to go on an overnight trip but stayed home. I am so sorry about that as she surely deserves a getaway. I called Uncle Olen. I let Glenna know and Philip and his family. I called Aunt Sue. I tried to call Paul but could only get to his voice mail so I left a message. I let my Aunt Cleo cousins know of their possible exposure. I was feeling so awful that I may have been making folks sick while I was enjoying their company. Everyone was so kind in reassuring me not to feel guilty.
Dad, Mom, Aunt Lola and Uncle Olen ended up testing positive too. Thanks God, everyone has seemed to recover well. I think that some folks may be having a lingering cough, but we can handle that compared to what many have suffered from having covid. I have heard that this latest variant is highly contagious and I surely believe it.
I finally tested negative on day 10 and got out of quarantine without a mask. I really feel blessed that I didn’t feel bad during my covid bout, I just felt like my allergies were raising Cain. I didn’t even mind being by myself although I do like to wait on myself. Hopefully, everyone else has recovered and experienced a relatively easy recovery as well.
So, I thank God for the opportunity to see so many of my beautiful family members. Especially, I thank God that even though I was a Typhoid Mary while visiting them, God has helped the ones who ended up sick to recover.
And that is how a whirlwind of family was wonderful until covid took it from wonderful to worrisome. Hopefully, the worry is over!
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