Clark Girls

Conner and I arrived at Church early because we had to take Michaela to a 9:30 Youth Group meeting. Church would not begin until 10:30. I said Conner, let's just go outside and walk around for a while. It's a beautiful day. So, we took a stroll. Through the gravel parking lot and alongside the treeline we walked and looked at trees and dirt and talked and then we walked around the graveyard a little bit.

As we walk along Conner picks up some silk flowers that have scattered about and returns them to their rightful place. We see gravestones with dates on them from the 18oo's. Some of the gravestones are so small and old you can no longer read the dates. We see family names like Jennings and Cammack on several headstones. I notice one in particular, Jesse Jennings and I think of her and I wonder if she was ever called Grandma Jesse and how that is a cute Grandma name. And I wonder if she wore a cotton house dresses with a small flower print and piping. She was buried next to her husband and I considered their life together and if he was kind to her and if she loved him. Conner and I continued our morning stroll around the church grounds.

We have done this maybe three times n the last three years since we've been going to church there. And when we do this I am very aware that we are making memories together and He may one day when He's older remember walking through the old graveyard by the old church with his Mother and what a beautiful and mysterious place it may seem to a young boy of seven years. There are these two tall trees by the road and they are identical and they almost create one big tree. Oh how I love these trees. I like to stand right in between them because I like to hear them talk. I stand between them with my hands raised and ask them to share their strength and wisdom with me. So, now we've made a big circle and we are back to the old meeting house and everyone is arriving for the Sunday morning meeting. It was wonderful and beautiful and very moving.

After church Mike and Michaela along with a whole group of people from church headed out to Syracuse to drop all the teeny-boppers off at camp for a week. So, Conner and I saw them off and headed to the Kia so we could go home. My friend Tim was trying to fit an end table into the trunk of Will's car. It would not fit, so I said I would take it to Will's house because it would fit in the back of the Kia just fine. Will lives over by the Moose in Noblesville so we dropped off the table and then we decided we were hungry and we headed to McDonalds.

We drive by McDonald's and it is far too crowded so Conner suggests Jim Dandy's it's just down the road and it's that one place where daddy played guitar and got a free breakfast. I said, "sure thing, let's do it." We walk in the front doors and I tell Conner we can sit at the bar or in a booth. He chooses the bar. The bar seats eight people and it's horse shoe shaped. We sit down and there is a couple to our left and a man on our right and they are chatting with one another. I say Conner, what will you order? He say's He want's the #5. The couple on our left is an older couple and they are dressed nicely and the woman say's. I couldn't help over hear that your name is Conner and I wondered if you knew that this is Conner street. And he say's oh yes, He knows and we talk about William Conner and Conner William and she say's that maybe one day our Conner will too be a famous man from Hamilton County. I said, yes. Yes, in deed. I tell her that we are having breakfast together because Conner's sister left for camp this morning and he is celebrating because she is pesky. She asks where did she go to camp and I say Syracuse, Indiana at Quaker Haven Camp. She says to me, Conner as my witness. Oh! My family, for the last three generations attended Hinkle creek Friends Church here in Noblesville. We live in Fishers or we would attend there as well. It's a lovely place and much of my family is buried there. I said, "what is your family name?'" She say's "Jennings." I say, "Why,that's incredible, Conner and I walked those grounds just this very morning before church." I then ask her. "What was your grandmother or Great Grandmother's name? She say's well, my great Grandmothers name was Jesse Jennings.