Fun Memories of Visiting an Aunt and Finding a Neat Grasshopper!
Montage Pic: Public Domain
Back when I was about 7 years old, our family was on the way for a late summer trip to Chatawa Mississippi to pick up Helen, my older sister, where she had been for a summer boarding camp up there.
There was a nice pond that greeted you as you would come off the beautiful winding road from I-55 that takes you to St. Mary of the Pines, as it was called till it closed before COVID-19.
After passing the pond and before the main entrance to the headquarters, you also would get to view a special cemetery located adjacent to the road which is the final resting place for the deceased religious of the community.
Being a city slicker from New Orleans, it was great then to feel “out in the country” on these outings and to stop for some free “Kentwood Water” from the springs nearby.
I will never forget during that trip finding and keeping a gigantic grasshopper that David, my older bother, and I found in the woods by the Mother House.
I named it “Micky,” since my sister was really into The Monkees, and my favorite member was Micky Dolenz, their drummer!
How funny when I think back to then that I had decided to let Micky go free in the grass at a “Micky's,” a McDonald's in New Orleans, where we had gone for a snack after the trip to Mississippi!
The oldest of my mother's siblings who died in 2016 at the age of 99 was Sr. Mary Joselia Kleinpter, SSND (“Mildred”), a School Sister of Notre Dame nun who lived in Chatawa Mississippi.
Mom and her sibblings were all raised by my late Kleinpeter Grandmother in the Mid-City area of New Orleans, where my late Kleinpeter Grandfather, Francis Kleinpeter, Sr., developed a grocery store that most of my aunts, uncles and my mom worked at for many years.
Sr. Joselia was someone very special and as an aunt, she always has found ways to reach out to the family and friends, whether in New Orleans where she served for many years or in other venues for her order.
How can I forget all of the goodies she would bring to us at Christmas or other festive or simple visitations with us and other members of the Kleinpeter Family?
Sr. Joselia used to be the vital link for us New Orleans Kleinpeter natives with our Red Stick relatives, who also did so much with her. She would be very involved in the reunions for the family that were mainly held in Baton Rouge with the late Big Boy, Ben, Jeff, Kenny and others from the Dairy helping so much.
There were so many other neat things that we would do upon our excursions to visit with Sr. Joselia. After getting married and having kids on our own, we would treat them to the treasures of Chatawa!
One particular gathering was around the time that “Barney,” the purple dinosaur, had just made a big splash on television. Sr. found out about a benefactor who had a friend with a “Barney Party Act” who wanted to do something special for the nun's families, so she invited many of the family to a gathering in Chatawa.
No matter how many times we heard Barney say, “I love you, you love me, we're a happy family, with a great big hug and a kiss from me to you, won't you say you love me to,” we really thought that was Sr. Joselia's song!
Later, like most kids will mischievously do with songs, we got to hear another version to that tune that they made up! About 13 years ago, I joined our youngest son with his fellow boy scouts to take a great tour of the local Kleinpter Dairy in Montpelier!
Interesting reading about your family and the wonderful things that they did with you in your childhood. I'm grateful that you let that grasshopper go free even though it may not have lasted very long in the urban environment.
You made me remember all the fun times I had with aunts and uncles and cousins, many, about our age. Grasshoppers were just part of our daily living in the countryside. They had a kind of brown, tobacco juice that appeared when they were irritated.
My last aunt, who I visited with my last uncle about four years ago thanks to Scott Zachary a fellow author who took me to College Station when he turned 100. He died two years later and she died last year. Only a couple of my cousins are still in coast touch.
A wicked Cajun Fairy named Robes Pierre entered the impenetrable Magical doll land of Sha Bebe. Queen Faustina, the ruler of the doll land, thought she had destroyed him, but he's back! Will the doll land survive his evil ways?
The familiar lament of dual-career parents raising children is, "I just can't do it all." The Libra Solution provides an alternative - a more satisfying and sustainable work and life approach - to the overwrought modern day norm.
A wicked Cajun Fairy named Robes Pierre entered the impenetrable Magical doll land of Sha Bebe. Queen Faustina, the ruler of the doll land, thought she had destroyed him, but he's back! Will the doll land survive his evil ways?
Montage Pic: Public Domain
