The Browning Family reunion is held annually on the fourth Sunday in April and this year I decided to go a day early and spend some time with my Uncle Lavern. We played golf and after spending the night with him and my Uncle Charlie who came down from Corinth, we went to church the next morning at Shady Grove before going to the reunion. It was great and it really brought back a lot of memories. It’s been a long time since we all sang at Shady Grove.
It was “Old Fashioned Day” at church and many of the men in attendance wore overalls and the women had “old-timey” hats and what they used to call “swarp-tail” dresses. Now in my mind, the church had not changed much over the last forty years, but in reality it had. Gone were the rows of pews on each side of the pulpit that I used to call the “Amen Corner,” which is still clear in my mind, the men on one side and the women on the other. And there’s air conditioning now, whereas in my mind every one had a fan. It’s been a long time since we all sang at Shady grove.
But even if some things change, some stay the same. Back then they had Sunday School every week but only had preaching once a month, but they always met together before Sunday School where they sang a few songs and prayed. Well, that’s something they still do the old fashioned way, or at least this Sunday. They made a few announcements and sang a song, all the verses (the old fashioned way, if they are going to sing one they are going to sing them all, not just the first and fourth), and had prayer before breaking out to the individual classes. They were studying in Ezekiel in the chapter where it talks about “standing in the gap,” and I was able to go in the class where my Uncle Lavern was teaching and heard him talk about standing up for what’s right and how when you stand up for what’s right, you’re on God’s side because He’s always on the side of what’s right. It’s been a long time since we all sang at Shady Grove.
Well, then I went to the reunion and had some really great food and saw a lot of people, some I only see once a year. And I thought of the ones who were here in years past, but had gone on since then. I heard my Uncle Graden remind us that we should remember this time and make an effort to be here every year because there might come a time when we would wish we had. And I heard my Uncle Charlie thank God for being born in the Browning family and how his mom and dad, Odell and Sallie, had done their best as they lived their lives to leave a name we could be proud of, and how it was our job to continue to make it a name to be proud of to pass on to future generations. It’s been a long time since we all sang at Shady Grove.
As I got ready to leave, I decided to drive back through the country a little before heading back home. I drove by the old home place and in my mind remembered some of the good times of many years ago. I can still see Miss Sallie feeding the chickens and going to the garden
in her sun bonnet, and brushing her hair on the front porch before getting ready for bed. I can still see Mr. Odell going to the barn to milk the cows or feed the hogs and sometimes getting to go with him and even getting to ride the tractor with him. I can still see Uncle Charlie coming up the front steps and touching the underside of the porch roof a couple of times. I can still see those football games out in the pasture with my uncles and cousins, and I still remember the time my Uncle Travis blocked a field goal with his face. As I went down the road and saw an old house about to fall down and remembered places where the houses had disappeared altogether, I thought about how the houses might be gone but the people who lived there would always be there in my mind, and then I found myself back at Shady Grove, not just in my mind but in reality. I got out and listened to the cemetery a little while and thought about how funny it is that I don’t like to go to funerals but I actually like cemeteries. As I stood next to the church I just closed my eyes and drifted back to earlier times and as I thought back across the years I could hear voices pleasing to the ear and could see Mr. Odell and Miss Sallie holding their hymn books high and Mr. Kirk leading hymns we all use to know and glorifying Jesus was their aim. I could hear someone shout “Amen,” and it did my soul good. And as I stood there thinking as to how I’ve got more miles behind than to go, I thought it’s been a long time since we all sang at Shady Grove.
When I came up on Saturday it probably took about an hour, but it seemed like it took about 40 years for me to make it back home.
