Just as many children learn the days of the week by attaching weekly events to each day's name, much of my "day name memorization" hinged upon my weekly trips to various relative's home. Tuesdays were the first and easiest days to remember, for each Tuesday marked a trek down 655 to my Grandma Yoder's house in Belleville.
As my Mom drove, my brother, my cousin and I would anxiously await in the back seat of my mom's 1987 Oldsmobile as we drew ever closer to "Mum Yode's house," as we called it - all while occasionally holding our noses as we passed a freshly-manured corn field.
Our sojourn ended as we pulled into Mum Yode's driveway.
Being that we would arrive late in the afternoon, the aromas of a homemade meal would creep through the hallways and, along with the hugs we received from Mum Yode, would greet us as we opened the front door.
We, the kids, would rush to the playroom, which was full of old toys-most of which our aunts and uncles played with during their childhood years.
Mom and Mum Yode would finish preparing dinner as the rest of the "local family" - my dad, Uncle Ben, Aunt Darlene, Uncle Emerson, Aunt Sandy and my cousin, Kristen - would arrive. When finally the meal had been prepared, all would rush upstairs to eat. After anxiously waiting through Grandpa's blessing on the food, each family member would file in line to fill their plates.
Once finished with the meal, each kid at Mum Yode's house knew exactly which weekly activity was next on the Tuesday agenda. After Mum Yode threw all of our dishes into a sink of steaming hot water, each member of the family put their shoes on and walked out the door toward Trella Street.
That walk down Trella Street provided us with plenty of enjoyment in and of itself; however, the real fun could be found at the end of the street. As we turned the corner, we could finally see the rows of stands being set up at the "Sale Barn." With the small amounts of money we each were allotted, we ran down the rows of stands, searching through the piles of knick-knacks, digging for "buried treasure." When at last we had found a little something that tickled our fancy - even if we lost interest in it within two or three days - we would buy it.
Afterward, our weekly walk ended in the animal barn, where we admired the various animals from the catwalk above. Each week brought a new surprise: Some weeks we found goats, others we found cows and still others we found horses.
The simplicity of a weekly trip to Belleville's "Sale Barn," if observed with a cynical attitude, may seem trivial.
However, to a young boy who still was learning his days of the week, the interesting combination of both consistency and surprise that each week's trip to Mum Yode's house made the name 'Tuesday' that much easier to recall.
Not only did I connect the excitement of my trips to Mum Yode's house with the day Tuesday, Tuesday also meant a shower of love and a feeling of importance that only a Grandmother could offer.
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Jesse Crosson is a Sentinel reporter.
