Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before
Story Time (and family photos - see captions below)
At least once a year, my family tries to go to Iowa. This year, we chose Thanksgiving. My mother's fear of a holiday without the whole family finally came true this year. For years, every trip has been "Our last trip together with the whole family." My brother and his wife were with her family for the holiday, and the rest of us flew to Iowa. My parents were bawn and bred in Kalona, Iowa, so we get to see both sides of the family when we go "home" for the holidays. There's nothing like going home to confront the ghosts of my former self. I always feel like the petulant, stubborn little girl comes out - at least inwardly if not outwardly.This year, my brother became especially interested in our family history. We copied old photographs, read through family history books, and listened to stories. My family tells the best stories, and my Grandpa Yoder sometimes puts on his preacher voice when he's telling a good
story. He told us about being a CO - a conscientious objector - during the war and working in the camps in Mississippi and Alabama. That he and his brothers were opposed to war meant that everyone especially wanted to pick fights with them. He told about the time that he and his brothers were in the city and someone started to taunt them. When great Uncle Paul started to run, these guys caught him and used brass knuckles to beat his face to an unrecognizable pulp. They missed their train and had to stay the night in the city. And that's why Uncle Paul's nose is so crooked. Grandma told us how Great Grandma Beachy used to always say, "Well, ach, I just can't fix those fancy things- like Jello-that your mother makes for you."
There were also newer stories. Like the time my 12 year old cousin, who is always begging to drive, told his mom that he was going to drive up the grocery store. She gave a sarcastic blessing and bid him farewell. When my uncle came home, they realized that he was gone. He came back from the grocery store to a whole world of hurtin'. "But you told me I could!" was his defense. "We didn't think you would actually be stupid enough to do it!" was my aunt's response. Apparently, he also said, "Well, at least I didn't drive it the whole way in the ditch, like Aunt Faith did!" It's true; a younger version of my mother decided to take the car for a drive, ended up halfway in the ditch, and continued her trip to her cousin's house.We spent most of the trip eating, talking, and playing games, like Dutch Blitz. While the rest of the world was out shopping the day after Thanksgiving, we played twelve rounds of dominoes. My favorite part was the constant argument with my grandmother over whether or not the rules of dominoes actually applied to
her. She would conveniently forget to draw when she couldn't lay down. My mom would remind her; my grandma would throw a domino at her as a "thank you."We also had the inaugural Hostetler Thanksgiving Flag Football Throwdown, hosted by my cousins, Carla and Emily. (Two very cool girls, and I'm a little sad that we live so far away from each other.) Watching my uncles coach my younger cousins made me want to be a dad some day soon. Everyone took turns as QB. The younger boy cousins would call the plays in the huddles, and the dads/uncles would act like it was the greatest plan they had ever heard. It wasn't about winning; it was about making these boys feel good about what they could do. We lost something awful, but that was okay. I had a good tackle, didn't miss (or get) any passes, and we had a great time. (Note to self for next year: apparently, I'm supposed to try to let the QB know that I'm open instead of just hoping he doesn't try to throw it to me. Lesson learned.)
Now, I'm back in Tallahassee for the last week of classes. I'm starting to get sad about losing this next batch of students. I hope I don't ever lose that excitement over these students. I'm also working on Ph.D. applications for next fall, and finishing up a very overdue incomplete. And then there's my thesis...Finally, in response to several questions I've received about the ambiguity of my last post...a few weeks ago, Mike and I decided to end our dating relationship. And there's no good way to say that. "Calling it quits" sounds like you've just quit a person, or "break up" sounds like something that is terribly broken, and it wasn't. It wasn't for a lack of love, or for anything that had gone wrong. We still love each other; part of us will always love each other, I think. It was
more the realization that what we have together is limited in where it will probably go. He has this big, amazing writing career ahead of him, and he has to be able to go where the opportunities open up. (And he is GOOD. He's going somewhere, and I think everyone sees that. He knows stories and he knows writing. I've learned more about writing and about people in general in the past two years... It's not easy for writers these days. You have to get this fellowship, to get this many books published...you have to know the right people, and he does.) I'm trying to pursue my career in academe, and I'm limited to those schools that will actually take me. That's all I'll say about it on here, on the world wide interweb...I haven't wanted to talk about it very much, but I figure that both of my readers deserve to know, since you've been following this for so long. So...there you have it. New chapters.
PICTURES:
1) I think these are my great grandparents when they were younger? People say I look like the girl on the far right.
2) My mom's family - she's front and center
3) Great Grandpa and Grandma Beachy (Andrew and Elizabeth)
4) My mom on the farm
5) Yoder children and cousins - (my mom is on the far right)
6) Grandpa - a conservative Mennonite pastor - with a gun
7) Great Grandpa Beachy. This picture can also be found on some postcards in Iowa.
P.S. - TRUE STORY: So Kalona is kind of small (but wonderful!!!) It has one stoplight, one motel - The Pull'r Inn, a Casey's General Store, and various local shops and restaurants. Lately, it has really started to grow. One thing that they've started work on is a strip mall and, I'm not making this up, apparently the Amish were very upset. They couldn't believe the depravity of a town that would actually build a STRIP mall. Tsk-tsk...I'm sure some of the disappointed Amish youth have to make new plans for their rumspringas now. A mall of strippers was just too good to be true.
(Blame my grandpa if this proves to be false.)
posted by tara @ 12:51 AM
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