Picture of the day - December 17, 2006

"Home"

A few days ago I was visiting Cheria's Uncle Jerry when his twin brother Ikey stopped by, and while they were chatting I walked up on the hill to take a picture of Jerry's "mistletoe tree". I snapped off a few shots of the huge parasite-laden black gum, then turned around and started back down the hill. But after taking a few steps, I looked up and saw the beautiful scene featured in today's picture! As I took in the view, I began thinking about the wonderful Cook Family and the many stories Cheria has told me of the time she spent growing up with Granddaddy and Granny Cook and her precious aunts and uncles. It was then that I realized that I was looking down on a piece of her heritage - and in a very real way a piece of her soul. The large white farm house with the green roof is where her grandparents finished out their lives after raising their large family just "down the creek" in a smaller wood-frame house. Although it was last inhabited many years ago by Cheria's Uncle Clayton, that old house is still there today, surrounded by weeds and filled with cobwebs and the precious memories of a beautiful young curly-haired girl who loved to run around and play with her "brothers" and "sisters". Those were some of the happiest times in Cheria's life, and I could see it in her eyes when she and I visited the old home place back in the summer. Well, Granddaddy and Granny Cook eventually left that old house behind and moved the family into the large farm house pictured above, and an entirely new set of memories were made there as well. First Granddaddy passed away, then a few years later Granny followed him on to heaven, leaving Aunt Eleanor and Uncle Jerry to make their home there and create decades of memories of their own. Countless memories of this little Widener Valley farm and two very special houses will remain tucked away forever in the mind of one little girl who grew up there in the midst of such a loving family. For Cheria, that special place will always be "home".   Submit a photo of your own! Picture of the day archives