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By: Jim Fitzpatrick |
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Email: jim@nunica.com |
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Local Farmer in Polkton Township writes for the Coopersville Observer. |
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Along Brandy Creek By Jim Fitzpatrick
The Coopersville Observer December 25, 2006- - No. 81 |
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Uncle Pat's given first name wasn't Patrick like you might be inclined to think. It was Harold. His three nephews knew that because Grandpa Will always referred to his oldest son by that name. For the three boys, it was a little confusing when they were young. Someone obviously came up with the idea of taking the middle right out of Uncle Harold Fitzpatrick's last name and using it as a nick name. So anyway; Harold, Uncle Pat that is, left the farm early on to spend his life in the big city - twenty miles on to the east. He was married to the silvery gray haired stocky lady that the boys knew as Aunt Viney. Uncle Pat had a bald topped head, wore glasses, wasn't an overly big fellow. He had a real nice and pleasing smile when he talked to you.
A drive out to the farm for a visit was something that Uncle Pat and Aunt Viney did often. They would always show up a few days before Christmas, for sure! Their cloths seemed a bit overly neat and tidy. The car they drove looked shinny and new; lots of chrome scattered all over it form end to end. And in the trunk of that automobile - if it did happen to be their annual Christmas visit - would be Christmas presents for the nephews. The gifts would be all done up in expensive wrapping paper with large bows and ribbons. The presents seemed larger and heavier than the average farm kid presents of the times. They surely had to come form some speciality store deep in the downtown of the City. Some kind of place that the farm families never heard of or were told about. It just had to be something like that.
You can't help but wonder if Uncle Pat, back when he was little boy Harold on that same farm, maybe had an Aunt and Uncle that came out from the city with presents for him, too. At Christmas time! |
