Oh You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby!

This afternoon I got on Facebook and saw that one of my brothers and one of my cousins had written on another cousin's wall. Both comments were something to the effect of "sorry about your Dad." Hmmm. I wasn't sure what it meant and then listened to a voicemail from my parents telling me that my Uncle Don had passed away last night of a heart attack. He had been through a few surgeries for a brain tumor he had a few years ago, but I thought he had been able to move forward.
These are sad times, but I must admit...the few moments I've had to reflect have brought a lot of memories that I hadn't thought about for a while.

My family lived in Nebraska when I was in the 1st through the 3rd grade. Because there were not many congregations for our church, some people traveled rather far for the Sunday meetings. One person stayed with our family each weekend - Don Tompkins. I remember that he had a gruff, but pleasant voice and that one of his jobs was as a beekeeper. He would always come in the house and start belting out in a loud, strong singing voice "Oh, You must have been a beautiful baby, but oh boy look at ya now..." to the four little girls (me and my sisters). It was slightly embarrassing to us, but I remember we would all blush because he was giving us a compliment.

I remember him cooking fried chicken in this special cooking pan and using a lot of honey for his special recipe. Yuck! Or, at least that is what we would say before we tasted the chicken and then the yuck would turn to yum. It seemed to me that he put honey on to everything he ate, but not sure if memory is serving me well.

He also had some cool running shoes, but I remember them being fairly high tech (it was the late 70s so no telling what high tech resembled at that time) for what we were used to at our house.

I'm not sure how long it was, but after a while my parents decided that they were match makers and they asked one of my father's sisters to come out to meet this guy. I don't remember much about their dating experience, except that one day I came into my bedroom and they were sitting on my twin bed kissing. Something happened while they were sitting there and either the bed broke or the mattress slide off or something. I remember high tailing it out of the room because I didn't want to have to tell anyone what happened...or maybe I was just laughing. After all, what is an 8 year old to do in these situations?

They were married a short time later and that was my first experience as a bridesmaid - or shall I say mini-bridesmaid/flower girls.

I haven't seen my Uncle Don or Aunt Kathryn that much over the years. Perhaps at a few family reunions and then when they all came up to DC for Clark's wedding in 2001. However, my parents and other siblings have taken a few trips down to see them in Georgia and they've been up to Indiana a few times. Good memories.

Over the last year I've not re-connected with my Uncle Don, but have re-connected with my cousins on Facebook. It's kind of strange that I knew their father before they did. I was a healthy 8-9 years old by the time Don and Kathryn were married. So, these memories are something to add to their memories of him...and for them to know that he made a positive impression in my life, and the rest of my family.

May the Tompkins family be comforted in their time of need and know that we love and support them...even if far away from Georgia.
The Tompkins family in April 2008 as photographed by http://www.clairissacooper.com/.