Thanksgiving 2009

I thought it would be good for me to do something different for Thanksgiving this year. So I went to Springhill, La to visit my Aunt Page and Uncle Son. Uncle Son is Pop's brother. They were really close and traveled a lot together once they both retired.

We had a nice Thanksgiving - drove over to West Monroe to my cousin Patsy's house for the big meal, which was lovely and delicious. On Friday, my Uncle and I first drove to Camden, Arkansas to see my Grandma Harrison's house at 806 Maple St. I recognized it right off even though I hadn't been there in probably over 20 years, maybe more. The house looked pretty good although the neighborhood has declined quite a bit.

We then went over to the Memorial Park cemetery so I could see the graves of my Grandma and Grandpa. My Uncle Hamp and Aunt Sissy are buried there too. It was important for me to be able to document how to get there and now I have done that. I feel like someone needs to know how to get to the family gravesites.

After that we drove 45 miles north to go to Leola, Arkansas where my Pop was born. He was the only one born there, the other 4 kids were born in Camden. Leola is a little bitty town with a population of 515!! I took a picture of the post office and the only store. The store's owner was very nice and knowledgable and said that there were still some Harrisons there. I asked him what could the population have been in 1919, if it's only 515 in 2009?! He said the town actually used to be bigger, with a railroad and a saw mill, but times change...

It was so nice of my Uncle to indulge me with this side trip. I think he had a really nice time too. He said he hadn't been to Camden in years and had never been to Leola. So it was heartwarming for both of us.

Family is so important. And now I'm even more informed than ever.