Every St. Patrick's Day, my wife and I hook up with friends of fifty-six years, in Assumption, Illinois. On that St. Pat's Day, we enjoy a great corn-beef & cabbage dinner and sit around reminiscing of those gone by years. As years pass, I note such get-togethers become an exercise in helping one another recall names, places and events. It is obvious our common denominator, which strengthens over time is memory depletion.
Grandpa E. V. and Mammy Bennett would often say, "As I rekalek." That's how Kentuckians say 'recollect.' Well, it seems as we get along in years, we don't 'rekalek' so good. With that in mind, I developed some written personal family recollections in a book for my children a few years back. I told the kids I wanted them to understand family events past, which might explain why their parents were a tad bit screwed-up and why they may not be 'fer' behind. 'Fer' is not a misspelling. It's another Kentuckism. Things are not far down the road but a 'fer piece' down the way. I also told my children that if they repeated these recollection stories they were not 'rekaleckin' but instead they were engaging in hearsay or as E. V. and Mammy would say, "I hear tell."
When my wife calls my name with a certain tone, 'I'm supposin' she ain't pleased and's fixin' to get in a dither 'bout somethin.'
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