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Poor Relatives

         We had some poor relations when I was young. We kids didn't know they were poor. They were cool. Their homes were exotic wonderlands, and we loved to go there. They were country folk. They didn't know they were poor either. I guess my dad knew they weren't that well off because he always took them things. I just thought it was because he loved them, which he did very much.

         They were aunts and cousins of his. In many ways they were rich. They were land rich when land wasn't worth so much. They had soil to grow their own vegetables, so they never went hungry. They could hunt and fish, which even the women enjoyed. So putting meat on the table could be fun as well as work. At various times, they had pigs or cows or chickens or turkeys.

         The houses were exotic to us because they cooked on wood stoves, and heated the other rooms with pot-bellied stoves. You'd gather around the wood burning in the stove to watch a football game on TV. Deer skins and antlers hung on the walls upstairs and down. There were homemade quilts and crafts everywhere. There were big front porches with rocking chairs and plants. At one house a big swing with arms hung on a wood frame out in the yard. A whole bunch of kids and sometimes a grown-up could fit in at the same time.

         One of those relatives had a hay loft. That really impressed us, but they moved to another place too soon for us to get well acquainted with it. All of these houses were filled with smiling people who could tell lots of tales. Story-telling seemed to be an art. And those folks were good cooks and always shared what they had. They always made kids feel welcome and important.Sunday visiting was a respected ritual.

         They were simple folk. One family ended up okay in the next generation, leaving their land to the kids of my dad's generation. One family ended up leaving the only grandchild very well off, and they had even less when they were alive. One childless couple sold the land while they were still alive and moved to town. They loved the change to city life, but had few years left to enjoy it.

         But even while they were poor, they were rich in the basic necessities of life, in friendships, in respect from others, in love. When I was about 12, maybe, one great uncle showed me a picture from his wallet. It was from the early 1900's. The girl had on a skirt below her knees, white stockings, and long ringlets in her hair. He was beaming when he told me he had carried that in his pocket since she was 18 years old. He was still proud of her. Yes, he was a very rich man.