Aunt Jo

Hopefully I get this right aunt jo would tell it much nicer in a southern accent too...
Something like 35 years Mom went on a mission trip to Arkansas. She had broken her leg on a trampoline (I think it was) just before going and she wrote to her roommate Joann and explained this to her. Joann wrote her back explaining she too walked with crutches as she had polio when she was little and she wore braces on her legs. They met at that camp in Arkansas and were instant friends.
Mom several years later would teach school with her in Kentucky - I think maybe it was in a one room school, and perhaps there was a guy named Mr. Pillow. Mom got married started a family and Joann got married to Sam her high-school crush - and even though mom moved from Kentucky and Joann planted roots there on Sam's family farm they remained friends, so close that we have considered them our family. They are Aunt Jo and Uncle Sam and Aunt Jo's mom became our Grandma Perkins. I have so many fond memories of Aunt Jo's - drinking hi-c slimer juice boxes on the porch, chasing cows, riding in the pick-up to fetch bulls from sink holes, player pianos, camping trips, fried chicken and mac and cheese, meeting up at Frisch's, guzzling Ale8, the smell of uncle sam's pipes, and sliding down the roof of the old kitchen - oh good times.
Anyhow several years ago Aunt Jo bought a lovely dining room set at a yard sale from her niece. She didn't really need it but it didn't sell. Aunt Jo put the furniture in Grandma Perkin's Amish storage barn, and never used it. When Aunt Jo heard mom moved and was getting a divorce she called mom - she told her she had a table and chairs for her. It's funny how things work out... little did Aunt Jo know when she bought it that she actually had bought this for my mom.
Regardless to say we went this weekend to pick it up, it looks lovely in mom's dining room and Lita even said to me this morning that it was so nice to be able to reach her breakfast. What a blessing this is for mom who desperately needed a table and chairs as camp chairs and craft tables only work for so long. Thanks Aunt Jo not only for the table but for being one of mom's lifelong friends.
Photo Aunt Jo, Uncle Sam and mom last night.