By Linda Ibbitson Hurd
Special to the Express
M y mom had an Aunt Violet and Uncle Jasper who lived in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine. The year I was 11 and my siblings, 8,5 and 2, we were invited to spend the Fourth of July with them. I could tell my parents were excited and when we found out our cousins – Joan, Donny and Bobby, Aunt Phyl, mom’s sister, and Uncle Al – were coming, we got excited, too.
We lived in Hanson, and Aunt Phyllis and Uncle Al lived in Albany N.Y. We looked forward to seeing them in Maine.
When mom and dad had the car all packed for the few days we’d be away, we piled in and headed for Maine. When we arrived, my cousins were already there. Everyone came out to greet us, everyone happy and excited to see one another. Aunt Violet led the way to the dinner table where we all had a nice meal.
The next morning was the Fourth of July.
My two older cousins and I were up first and went outside and sat on the big wrap-around porch that was on the front and side of the big, beautiful house surrounded by flowering bushes and trees. Down a small slope was a lake. We also noticed a barn to one side of the yard. We ventured over to it and peeked in to see a very big gray horse. It looked just like my Gramp’s horse, Harry, who was a big gray work horse. Jasper came into the barn and asked if we had met Max and gestured towards the horse. I told him my Gramp had almost the same horse. He knew my grandparents and smiled, saying, yes they did and told us that just like Harry, Max could hold several people on his back and he’d let us ride him later.
On the side yard was a big long picnic table, a barbeque grill, a badminton net and rackets, a few swings and a big box to one side that we were sure was filled with fireworks and sparklers. Out in back were two metal stakes far apart and a pile of horseshoes. When we walked down the slope to the water, there were several boats with oars and boulders to one side of the pond that were perfect for climbing. It was a haven and we started climbing the rocks.
After a few minutes, Jasper came down the slope with a boy and girl about our ages and introduced us. They were neighbors who lived close by and they and their parents were invited to spend the day with all of us. Their names were Sue and Brad and they joined us on our climb. It wasn’t long before we realized Brad was kind of a bully. My cousin Don stood up to him when he started teasing my cousin Joan about her New York accent and he backed off.
When we smelled food, we all got down off the rocks and headed for the yard just as our moms were calling us. When we got back to where the picnic table was, Chinese lanterns had been strung across the yard and porch, there were flags and bunting along the porch railing, it was very festive.
I remember feeling so happy to see my parents and Aunt and Uncle laughing and smiling. I liked watching the men play horseshoes, my dad was really good at it and my Uncle let my cousin Donny play.
Uncle Jasper finally brought Max out of the barn and helped my mom, Aunt Phyl and Brad’s mom get up on him while he led them around the field. The younger kids had the next turn and then it was the older kids and we all went to climb up. Brad was being a jerk again and Jasper wouldn’t let him on the horse. After we had our ride and got off, Brad ran and jumped up on the horse, dug his heels in Max’s side yelling, “let’s go boy, git!” Max didn’t run, Jasper yelled at Brad to stop jabbing him with his heels and to sit still and be quiet. Max ambled over to a big tree and as he walked under a low hanging branch before Brad could realize what was happening, the branch knocked him off the horse onto the ground. Almost everyone started laughing and us kids applauded. We all went over patting and stroking Max and he nuzzled us. That seemed to put Brad in his place and he was very quiet for the rest of the day.
When it started getting dark we got to use our sparklers. We all walked towards the lake and Jasper, my dad and uncle and Brad’s father took two of the row boats, rowing out into the middle of the pond where they set off the fireworks and they were beautiful! When we walked back to the house, Violet put a record player out on the porch and served drinks to the adults. We were having the best time watching them all while they were listening to music. The words of a song filled the night as we heard, “I was a Yankee Doodle Dandy born on the Fourth of July” …. and on it went. Pretty soon my Dad and Uncle were dancing on the porch to the songs. My cousin Joan and I went up on the porch and we ended up dancing with our dads.
As we got to know Violet and Jasper better, we looked forward to seeing them as did our cousins. More memories were made there and we could see how much they loved our mothers. It was a special home and place where our parents were carefree and it seemed to carry them through the year until we went again to Jasper and Violet’s.