tourists

We had our last little day trip of the summer last weekend with my mom. We went to Bethel. Many of my people come from Bethel. Well, my Dad's people. My dad was a North Shelby kid until the end of his freshman year. We have had some family reunions at the Bethel school. My parents and Vanita lived in Bethel for 3 days. Mom could not get comfortable in the old colony house. It was straight up and down and 4 rooms (living room and kitchen below, bedrooms above) and creeeeeeepy. It spooked her too much to stay. Dad was fine with it. They bought the house in Atlanta soon after. I was inches from being a Raider (which is not nearly as prestigious as growing up as a HORNET, of course)!

I read this trilogy of books by Jane Kirkpatrick called the "Kinship and Courage Series" and I loved it! It was based on a group of women headed out west via wagon train. Many of the women did not want to go, but their husbands did. You know, the whole "wherever thou goest and lodgest" thing...and the husbands did not ask their opinions! They were remarkable and inspirational women. As I was saying, I loved the books and when looking for more of her writing I stumbled upon her series of books called the "Change and Cherish Historical Series" which started in Bethel, Missouri and was based on the colony that originated there. I had heard bits and pieces of the colony so my fingers could not fly fast enough to get the books ordered off of ebay. I read the books and my mom read the books and we decided we wanted to tour the colony homes if we got the chance. We got the chance. It was the neatest thing. It was strange to be walking in some of the exact same places those characters (who were actual people) walked and worked and ate and danced...and died. The leader of the colony had a grand three story house and it was even bigger than I had pictured it. All of the colony houses had the same plan as my parents' brief home. The bottom floor held the kitchen and a bedroom and the top was two more bedrooms. They said the parents and babies had the downstairs bedroom. One upstairs bedroom was for the older boys, and one was for the older girls. How can I ever complain again about the trials of cooking every day with my electric range and oven when they were cooking over open fires in the kitchens? That would be a little warm in August! There were only three ovens in town so the women got together to do the baked goods for everyone and then they shared them. When you think it over many things would have been so difficult but they got to get together all the time. They had many women to look to for guidance and support when things were rough and think of how close the community would be. I heard someone in the news talking about an author that believed the reason divorce is so common today is that people are having such a difficult time doing things on their own and the support network that communities have always had is dwindling away. I had never really thought about that.

(This is where they cooked at the leader's big house.)

The kids were far more impressed with watching the people at the festival make the sheep be naked but I enjoyed the tour. I enjoyed seeing two of my Great Uncles. I enjoyed being a tourist. It made me want to read more on the history of the Midwest and find more places to visit. I am sure Mom would be on board too. So would Madison and Jaron...as long as we could find a way to incorporate animals and ice cream!

touristsJaron with the colony church's bellMadison's favorite thing of the day