My Aunt Frances
To write just a little about my Aunt Frances is like trying to write just a little about my Mom! There's just too much to tell in a single page. So I've highlighted just a few special things ... like the many visits we made when she and my Uncle Everett lived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Whenever we'd visit, Frances and Everett always had the most wonderful things planned for us. Breakfasts at the beach, shopping in Miami Beach, cook-outs and trips to three of our favorite places: The Seaquarium (where we even got to see the real Flipper!), The Serpentarian (where I got to see Bill Haast handle the big cobras!) and Silver Springs (when we'd all go up to visit Papaw and Mamaw).
Frances and Everett's home was so elegant and beautiful, with a gorgeous patio and grill. Linda and I always got to sleep out in the Florida room, and we loved that. And I think I've logged in hundreds of hours just standing in front of Frances' "picture wall" and looking at family photos.
In 1978, I flew to Florida to spend three weeks with Frances and Everett. The trip turned out to be more than I could have ever dreamed for ... they chartered a plane and took me to the Bahamas (Nassau)!!! What an excitign time we had! We saw things on the back roads that normal tourists probably never get to experience. On the same trip, they took me to Disney World, Lion Country Safari and the Winter home of the RIngling Brothers Circus. I will never forget doing all those wonderful things with them.
When Frances and Everett moved in 1979, we began a tradition that has
continued all these years -- Thanksgiving at their home in Loveland each year.
I look forward to that about as much as Christmas! There's always
so much wonderful food, and it's a time when we can all just
lazily sit around together. We usually get out old photos and look at
them, and share old memories (or look at all the new Beanie Babies
she has added to her collection!).
How much we miss Everett at this and EVERY event! Frances and Everett were always the consumate host and hostess ... and it was a joint effort on both their parts to go out of way to make you feel at home in their home.
I may look like my Aunt Kay, but I'm a lot like my Aunt Frances, too. Family means so much to oth of us. We appreciate things that belonged to family members -- not valuable things, but the sentimental things. And we both feel very blessed to be in the family we are in.
