The Pyrenees---Southern France

The Pyrenees---Southern France

Monday, June 18, 2018

A Birth Certificate (Finally), Getting Lost and Great Conversation

      This weekend I went out of town to Crane, a small town in southern Missouri. My sister and I went to visit a friend--Orvilene--who is in her 80s.

     On the way, we picked up my original birth certificate. More than six months ago, I requested it. (The laws about adoptees have changed, and now if our birth parents and our parents are deceased, or if everyone gives permission, we can get our original birth certificate. In my case, everyone is long gone.) 

     I was interested in seeing if a father was listed. He was not. However, it brings me a bit of satisfaction to see my birth mother's signature, along with the address where she was living when she delivered me.

    While in Crane, we drove around and revisited the family cemetery where some of our biological relatives are buried, along with the school our maternal grandmother attended. It's still standing, but no one's spending the time or the money getting it restored. Now it's fenced off and the weeds are flourishing... We drove around for a few hours looking for the school and the cemetery. The people who know about those forlorn places are dying. The younger people have no clue where the old Carney cemetery or where the old Cedar Bluff school is. We stopped several times but each time, folks just scratched their heads and apologized for not being able to help.

    As we drove up and down the rolling hills (sometimes I felt like we were on a roller coaster) we talked about the gorgeous scenery, the changes in the county (Stone county), who's moved into what house and who had died.

   Great conversation in beautiful surroundings, surrounded by fun people... a wonderful weekend. 

9 comments:

  1. It's good that you got your birth certificate, after such a long wait. Sounds like a great weekend. I've heard of Crane, having spend my college years in Springfield.

    Seems like people these days are in too much of a rush to care about oral history. My grandma could go on and on about who was related to who, and where they lived, and when they married, and family achievements and tragedies. Of the whole community, not just our relatives. Which reminds me, I need to go to lunch with my favorite gambling aunt. She does that, too.

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    1. I'm sure you'll have fun when you go out with your gambling aunt. However, make sure you do it during the day, so you don't miss any Hick time...

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  2. Cruising with a sibling is great fun. My brother and I don't do it enough, but we really enjoy the time when we do.

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    1. Jono--Perhaps you need to do it more often. After all, none of us are getting any younger...

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  3. So glad you finally received the birth certificate, My dad's family plot is off in a wooded area that can hardly be found anymore.

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    1. Linda--That's so sad when that happens. The cemetery we visited was off on some gravel road in the middle of nowhere... and yet it was taken care of. Mowed.

      Who takes care of it? I wondered...

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  4. I landed on that name, Orvilene, and couldn't get past it. WHAT A GREAT NAME TO PUT IN A STORY!!!

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    1. Cathy--Believe it or not, there's also a Margarene and an Elmerine.

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