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Old Order Mennonite Memoirs

Autumn Rapture

I, when the summer was over,

Found autumn was covered with gold;

And colors more lovely than springtime

Were there for these eyes to behold.

Lost in a sweet fascination,

I gazed on with wonder and awe

Then, rapt in serene adoration,

Praised God in the glory I saw.

~George R. Kossik

Before dry September left us, she washed off her dusty leaves and lanes and watered her dry fields and gardens. With the heavenly liquid, her remaining flowers grew vibrant with color again. She splashed sunshine on the green grass and swirled around the Cove with her clean, gusty winds. I was trying to finish my lawn mowing before she cut the lights on her last day when I noticed her big harvest moon rise in the east only a short time after "jolly, round, red Mr. Sun" went to bed in the west.

The next day October came. So did Granddaughter Bella. Her parents traveled with other family members to Missouri to attend a wedding and I was so thankful that her "Dawdy" and I were the chosen couple to care for her while they were gone.

She anticipated coming to us because she knew us and our home. If it wasn't gardens and the garden shed, it was sand and toys in the sand box. If it wasn't bubbles and swing rides, it was calves and cows in the barn. If it wasn't berries to pick, it was bread to bake. She watched her Dawdy muck the horse pen and got a ride in the stroller to Uncle Jesse's home. But most unusual, was her vigil on the high deck with us to watch the first of October's two moons rise in all its glory. As cold darkness enveloped us, we had to keep moving to ward off chills. Will she remember that long wait for the big, bright moon to rise over to eastern woods?

With many books, I learned to understand her baby talk as she practiced words. We may have helped her overcome her fears of owls with a fuzzy snowy owl puppet. When she saw that the screech owl sound kept coming from her very own Dawdy, her big brown eyes relaxed into a little smile.

On her birthday we put two candles in a cupcake and although she ate up the whole cupcake, she knew candles were hot and wanted her "Momie" to puff out the flickering flames.

While we were enraptured with sweet fascination by our little granddaughter, just turned 2, my friend along Frosty Hollow had the reception for their son and his wife who got married during the shut down. In the evening they had the singing for the youth. The moon shone on the nearby waters of the Woodbury Dam. Of the new couples for the weekend, the guys had to travel, one out of county to the Cove, the other far out of state by rail.

The vibrant sky colors of October's first Sunday morning splashed all across the horizon from north to south but the sunshine only reached across the valley to mountain peaks. It was cloudy and chilly when Bella rode with us in the buggy to worship at Piney Creek church. She was quiet during services as she was taught but squirmed restlessly from my lap to sitting at my side. She was impressed with her great aunt on her left side, who could make a handkerchief turn into a little mouse with a tail and ears.

When the duration of quietness for my little two-year-old came to an end, she was happy to go outside to play in the church yard. Upon finding blooming dandelions lying low in the green lawn, she gave them to her little girl cousin.

The sun was shining brightly by the time she was allowed to delve into her cheesy potatoes with sausage bits. They and the string beans weren't too hot for her to eat because this "Momie" remembered to dish it out in plenty of time for it to cool down. How thankful we are to God for food to nourish the precious growing children He has given us. And thankful, too, that Bella's parents arrived home safely to the sunny, colorful Cove.

 

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