I have connected on Facebook with my cousin Click. We are double first cousins. (History lesson: Our grandparents and parents grew up a mile or so apart on the Boulter Road, Glenwood, PEI. My father Calvin married Claudette's father's sister Rebie. Rebie's brother Garfield married Calvin's sister Doris. My Aunt and Click's mother Doris still resides in O'Leary, PEI.)
Click inquired last week whether a "fly past" could be ventured this weekend. I said yes! I love the company of the Islanders. On Sunday the Islanders arrived. Couldn't believe it - cousin Click, friend Treena, cousin Joan and my father's sister Shirley. Aunt Shirley. I couldn't believe she made that trip. I love them all. It was a great visit. Honey was performing. Jim was answering the phone and adding his two bits. And we were sharing laughs. I was told how the "girls" take these road trips fairly regularly.
They brought not only their lovely presence, but they also delivered to me two of my father's mother's - my Grandmother's Bibles which had been in the possession of cousins Joyce and Wayne. My paternal Grandmother's name was Caroline Etta (Cain) Boulter. She was proud to tell you that she was a born again Christian. She could recall very clearly the time and place of that rebirth. My cousins Wayne and Joyce wanted me to have these Bibles in order to absorb Grammie's strength and faith through them.
When I hold them it is very surreal. I am taken back to summer vacations on the Island in Grammie Boulter's beautiful house. It was beautiful to me. I can almost smell it. She made bread and cookies pretty well every day (the best ever). If you were lucky enough to be up early you could be part of her getting ready for the day. She had beautiful long hair, which she combed each morning, then braided and then put into a bun. She always wore a lovely dress and apron and practical shoes. And she sang while she worked in her kitchen. The kitchen had a wood stove, which was always going, despite the heat of the summer. After breakfast almost every morning, once dishes were done, whoever was there would gather together and pray and read scripture. And when we prayed, we prayed on our knees. I know she used these Bibles during that time. After supper we would be invited to play cards at her wonderful round dining table - Bible cards.
Today I will be sitting in a rocking chair on her front porch, on a dirt road in the west end of Prince Edward Island, with nothing but the birds, the wind and love.
These Bibles will be cherished. My Grandmother not only used them for worship, but they are a treasure of family history, containing names, birthdates, etc. of relatives, many of whom I never knew. Thumbing the same pages my Grandmother loved will be a very spiritual experience for me.
I am deeply indebted and grateful. Deep peace to all.
Wonderful story! Sit, breathe, soak in the spirituality, grace and strength that is a gift from the Power of all powers. As you hold your Grammie Boulter's bible think of all the strength she garnered through her years by reading through the pages of it, of praying with it in her hands, of believing it, of true and utter faith in its teachings.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this. The memories came flooding back to me. Need kleenex! I love you.
ReplyDeleteGrammie should have patented that game as the first edition of Trivial Pursuit!