An Outing with my Great Aunt

I have decided that every Thursday I am going to drive over to Waverly, Alabama and treat my great aunt, Myrtis, to lunch and shopping. She will soon be 88 years old and spends way too much time stuck at home alone as she never learned to drive. She now has a hard time walking and doesn’t get out much.

It was a cool, crisp fall day as I started out this morning. I took the back country roads; the same roads I hiked this summer on my grand adventure. A beautiful country landscape greeted me. It seemed that in just a few weeks time the countryside turned from green to brown. It felt very Christmas-like and wintry.

As I drove into town to my great aunt’s house, I passed by my late grandmother’s house and it stirred my emotions and brought back many a good memory. My father sold it years ago when she was afflicted with Alzheimer’s and had to move to the home I now live in. It is strange for me that someone else now owns it and dwells inside. I longed for those familiar smells of that house and my grandmother’s cooking. So many great memories were formed in that humble abode; the best times of my life.

I arrived at my great aunt’s house and she was overjoyed to see me. She had been cooking a big pot of turnip greens to freeze and the smells of that also brought back memories. She was also busy cutting up pears for pickling and canning. I helped her cut up the rest of them as her hands had grown tired.

We then sat out for Auburn, Alabama for lunch. She said she wanted a hamburger and I drove us to McDonalds. She talked endlessly on the drive and was a right chatterbox. She was so glad to get out of the house. I got us both something to eat and we sat in the car nibbling on the cheeseburgers as we talked. She got me caught up on all the gossip in the little small town in which she dwells.

We then set out on a quest to find me a new coffee percolator that she wanted to buy me. We went all across both Opelika and Auburn but could only find automatic coffee makers. We finally gave up on the quest and I took her to buy her groceries. She ambled around with the cart as I swiftly traversed the store, gathering up her items from a list.

I finally arrived home late this afternoon exhausted. You have to constantly watch her as she is prone to falling. The last thing she or I needed was a broken hip. I am not long for the bed and will soon retire. The next thing on the agenda this week is the extravaganza that is the Auburn/Alabama football game this weekend and seeing my brother after a long absence. I look forward to it.