Dewey and Aunt Donna's

Today I left Marquette for a small town outside of Escanaba called Flat Rock. My great-aunt Donna lives with her husband Dale in a house there. My dad's father grew up on a farm with his 7 other siblings (which includes Donna) not too far down the road from where she lives today. After attending a mass in honor of my grandpa who died three years ago this Wednesday, my family and my dad's relatives that are still in the U.P. went back to Donna's house for a Mother's Day lunch.

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Dawna's house

First, what makes Aunt Donna's so special is the location. It's out in the middle of lazy hills and fields next to farms and country homes. Next door to their house is the old farmhouse Dale grew up in with the barn and everything in tact. They renovated it a few years ago with their daughter and rent it out as The Farmhouse Bed and Breakfast (although they haven't done so the last couple of summers). In the Richer house they have an indoor pool, which blew my little mind when I was younger and I  always made sure I brought my swimsuit. The house sits on acres of land that allows travel by four wheeler. His latest project the past few years has been making maple syrup from the many maples on his land. This is one reason among many that makes spring my favorite season to visit them! Donna always pulls out the stops when it comes to food and after loads of ham, egg, potato, fruit, sweets, Bloody Marys, cinnamon rolls, and on and on, I'm always guaranteed a few pounds gained by the end of my visit. What's also nice about their place is they have a huge table that sits easily 12 people so you can visit with everyone while you eat.

The Farmhouse B&B tree lined driveway

Full view with barn

The family all at one table; Dawna and Dale are front right

This year's topic over lunch was my grandpa Al, or Dewey as they all call him. My grandmother and his sister's shared stories growing up on a farm with him. He was the mischievous older brother that always took advantage of the fact they'd believe any word he said. My favorite is when he told them if they peed on this rock daily that it'd grow. So being young and trusting, his younger sisters peed religiously on the rock daily. In order to keep the hoax going my grandpa would switch out the rock to a bigger one everyday until they finally caught onto what he was doing. With no cable and the seclusion he had to have his fun somehow!

All this talk of my grandpa made me appreciate the time I have with my family though and made me realize that times change and move on until you're finally sitting at the table with your children and grandchildren reflecting on stories. The generation of adults that grew up with my grandpa is extraordinary and I will be sad when we will no longer be able to all sit at the table together. Fortunately though I still have the time to be with everyone and I hope to take advantage of that. Family comes first, and they really are what matters at the end of the day.