A little praise goes a long way
Advice given by a teacher retired after 38 years
She who is in her nineties with her wits intact
Living in the same house for 64 years.
We visit your aunt to hear her reminisce
To see the photographs and handmade crafts
To tour her garden that is her joy
To learn and remember family history.
The lives of her grandparents, parents and herself
Spanning more than a century of human events
Recounted in a collage of memories
Some perhaps intended for our ears only.
Most people carry with them personal information
Passed to them by grandparents and parents
Carried into our own passing years adding our own recall
Looking back one hundred years becomes recent days.
We hear stories of working class immigrants
Making their way from England to Canada
And of her parents moving to Detroit in the 1920’s
Where her father found work building brick factory kilns.
Not so much is said about the struggle to survive
Hard times in the Great Depression
Or working her way through college after the War
Rather better to remember the happy times later.
Moving to a new brick house after graduating
Out by 13 mile road where she could find work teaching
Close enough to the factory where her mother worked
The two of them keeping company.
Where you visited as a child, you also living in Michigan
Close enough to spend time with your aunt growing up
Your grandmother adoring her sweet grandchildren
That house and yard holds so many memories.
Your aunt taking care of her ailing mother late in life
Even as she continued to work full time
That was the most difficult time with little help
Managing somehow to do whatever needed to be done.
Retired life for this teacher brought a second career
Partnering with a friend from teaching days having fun
Conducting estate sales becoming an expert appraiser
Enjoying being on the inside discovering antiques.
I know of some of the people your aunt has helped
Some of the kind things that she has done for others
So I know for sure what a good person she is
Keeping up, keeping on as best as she can.
Today inner city Detroit has a section called ghost town
Having seen industry leave her great city down and out
Your aunt is proud of the grit of the people living here now
As a new wave of immigrants brings the next iteration.
If you live a long life death will take friends and family
Leaving us to cherish who we have for the time being
Keeping shards of stories passed through the generations
We praise a little like she said and respect a lot.
Now we are the keepers of the archives
Several beautiful quilts and rugs
Photograph keepsakes from long ago
A pendulum wall clock made by your father
A collection of Inuit stone carvings
A folding rocking chair like those taken on the Oregon Trail
Framed artwork admired over a lifetime
All imbued with the history of their provenance.
Each artifact connects to a story told to us
For us to remember and tell again as we hold it
To keep alive this oral tradition from the past
Given with her unique lively personal touch.
