Had a good writing session today. I'm rusty for sure with this writting business and creative writing wasn't my strong suit in school so I feel challenged. The hardest part is puting my memories onto paper in words that create the picture as I see it in my minds' eye. My memories are so precious to me that I find it hard to do them justice on the page.
Practice, practice, practice. Practice makes perfect. Practice, and editing! Ha.
Today I wrote about cherrished memories of attending church with the Rebandts at Our Lady of the Woods in Woodhaven, Michigan.
I hesitate to share, but why not, thats what this challenge is about, isn't it? Leave feedback, or share your memories too!
Building Faith through Family 2/1/2013
After my family moved away from the downriver area and
stopped attending Our Lady of the Woods in Woodhaven, church was never quite
the same and our attendance fell off dramatically. My grandparents, Conrad and Marge
(Bloink) Rebandt and their family helped establish the church. In fact,
Conrad’s brother, Ralph also started the Baptist church right next door. There
is a family story that says the Baptist church still owns part of Guddith road
because Ralph was stubborn and refused to sign the land over to the city when
they put the road through.
Growing up, most Sunday mornings followed a similar routine.
My mother would get us up if we weren’t already and make sure we picked out
“church clothes” to wear. That phrase continued to indicate nice clothes
throughout my life. Whenever I had an occasion to pick an outfit for, I’d ask,
“does it have to be ‘church clothes?’”
Once we got to church, we always sat in the same spot. We’d
dip our hand in the holy water by the door and the head down the left side of
the church to the pew just behind the longest pew in the church. I remember
feeling that it was as if the church members knew that that pew was where the
Rebandts sit. It was like they reserved it for us. There was another family
that would sit at the end of our pew on the side closer to the middle aisle,
but the rest of the pew was always ours. And we usually filled it. One of the
benefits of having such a close family was that we got to see each other often,
and only two of Conrad and Marge’s nine children moved out of state. So, our
family would gather, there in “our” pew and listen to the word of the Lord.
Once church was over, we’d head to the vestibule to chat
with family members, greet the priest and see other church members as well. I
remember it was in the church vestibule where my cousin Michael, got to
announce to the family that he would soon be a big brother. Family news was
often passed along this way, in the church vestibule. Many times, my cousins
would play while the adults chatted. On sunny days, we’d head outside and then
we cousins had lots more fun. Playing in front of the statue of the Mother Mary
was a favorite pass time, as was climbing on the surrounding walls in typical
childlike fashion until one of the adults noticed what we were doing and
hollered at us to get down.
Many Sundays after church, the family would head over to
Millie’s restaurant which was around the corner from church, just past Grandma
and Grandpa’s house on the north side of West Road. Millie’s had a few names
over the years, most of them I can’t remember any more, but the inside never
seemed to change; nor did our Sunday morning routine. Most of the time, there was a large round
table up in the back of the restaurant that could accommodate our group of 10
to 15. If that table was already taken, the wait staff would drag tables
together for us and we’d sit down to share breakfast. Most of us anyways, Becky
never wanted breakfast. She would always order spaghetti. And she’d devour a
full plate and sometimes want a more. I’ve never seen a small child consume so
much spaghetti!
Once in a while, we’d head back to Grandma and Grandpa’s
house after breakfast, or we’d go to their house and cook breakfast instead of
going to the restaurant. Playing in the yard at Grandma and Grandpa’s was
always the best. There were plenty of cousins to play with and trouble to be
made. We loved the old swing set that was so big it had to have come from an
old park. It was always scary when you got swinging high enough to make the
front legs come up off the ground. Thank goodness we never tipped it over.
There were many a time I thought we might.
The glidder on the back porch also holds many special
memories. More often we got to spend quiet moments with Grandma and Grandpa
here as they watched the rest of the cousins play.
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