The Sumner Project

If there is one thing I've come to know, it's that I am a very blessed person. This is something I've always been aware of but it something that now lies even more prominent. The 20% Project was a blessing in disguise. Being told that we have 4 months to do anything that we have ever wanted to do was an exciting thought for me. I knew exactly what I wanted to do. 

Throughout my experience I learned a lot about where I come from, who I am and where I want to go. What started as just a little research and scrapbook project turned into something with a much grander meaning. The 20% Project undoubtedly changed my life. I now see things in a perspective and I understand the importance of love, care, and compassion.  

It's easy to get lost in the new ways of the world. It's easy to forget our tradition. Learning about your history can help preserve what we have left of our past. It can help us grow into who we are supposed to be. It can be a reminder of what used to be good. 

On a general note... 

1. Looking back, life is messy

2. So many people, so many of the same names

3. Incest was definitely an option back in the day

4. Big families were a must 

5. The name Sumner was English for a "Summoner" 

6. Native Americans were treated poorly

7. You can physically learn history or you can witness it

8. My grandparent's changed lives

9. You cannot choose your family, but I've been pretty blessed 

We were told to provide 3 visuals to enhance our presentations on our 20% Projects. Aside from the book I created, I made a family tree and a slideshow via ShowPro. I was most interested in the slideshow because while creating this I stumbled upon something I fell in love with... a CD. We apparently bought this CD at the Smithsonian in Washington DC, and I know I've seen it around the house but never paid much attention to it. It's called Mountain Music of Kentucky. The music takes me back instantly. It makes me feel like I am there. However, when I was reading the playlist I noticed a artist by the name of, ironically enough, Marion Sumner. Imagine that. I asked my parents about it and they said my papaw said we were somehow related to her. Family ties get pretty messy, especially when you have Kentuckian blood. Our exact relation my parents weren't so sure about. I thought that was so fascinating.

It's the week after my grandparent's anniversary party and it's now due time for another blog post. The days are winding down and next week I will be presenting my project to my entire AP Lang class. Our overall goal was not to create a necessarily successful product, but to gain an experience we have always dreamed of. I've learned a lot the past few months, but it all started to make sense on April 12, 2014. You can learn through research, pictures and history books, you can learn nearly every fact or story related to a topic... But you'll never fully know said topic until you experience it. And on Saturday, I definitely experienced it. I witnessed generations of family, friends, friends of family and family of friends gather from countless states to celebrate the marriage of 2 very special people. 70 years together. That's longer than a lot of people even grow to be. I always figured my grandparents were prime Kentucky citizens, but never as potent as they truly are. Papaw practically ran the Daniel Boone National Forest. Mamaw was looked to as a mother by many children other than her own. They welcome and accept every person they have ever met. I could only dream of being as truly genuine as those two are. They are love and adored by so many. You don't get a choice in life as to what family you are born into, but I've been absolutely blessed to be a part of this one.

Coal Keeps the Lights On!! By Jimmy Rose

The final project is approaching and this is a very exciting/scary time! The project is really starting to come together, I should be done within the next few days. I've decided to print my book via Shutterfly (aka the most amazing website every created, sorry tumblr) I seriously don't know how I would be able to do this project without it. It gives me a layout of everything I need to make a family tree in book form. I'm so blessed. 

My mom and 5 of her siblings, not including her oldest sister, grew up in a two story house with a nice front porch in Peabody, Ky. Some lived there longer than others, but there was no doubt that they found some source of home and comfort from the little house on the creek. My mom moved into this house at age 4 in 1968 and lived there until she married my dad. My grandpa worked for the U.S. Forest Service for 35 years and he was stationed in the Daniel Boone National Forest, probably about 100 yards from their home. My mom had a childhood that one could only dream of. It was full of adventure, imagination and mischief. Every time my family gets together I hear of a new story involving good ole' Peabody, whether it be about broken arms, getting soda pops from papaw's office or discovering mysterious animals lurking down on the creek (that story is my favorite). The Peabody house was taken down in 2000, long after my grandparents made their move up to Laurel County. For a long time I was extremely jealous of my mom's childhood, only to realize I've had one just like it. The magic of adventure had carried with my grandparents to the house they built on the top of the hill in the small town of London, Ky. Papaw's pond to this day has remained one of my most cherished spots. Every summer, me and my cousins end up taking the little canoe out with our fishing poles in hand. The woods behind the pond have been explored many times, one time we even created a pole vault out of a dead tree and launched ourselves over the creek.. that probably wasn't the best idea, but then again, we've done a lot worse. I've picked the apple trees and tasted every berry I've laid eyes on. I've never lived in Kentucky, heck, I wasn't even born in Kentucky, but one of the biggest things I've learned thus far in my life is to never forget where you came from. The best memories of my life were made in the Bluegrass State, that's where my family is and that's where my heart is, so how could I not consider Kentucky to be my home too? 

Papaw's Office

As I've probably mentioned nearly a dozen times, we're celebrating my grandparents 70th wedding anniversary this April. 70 years is a long time, and the newspaper where my grandparents live, London, Kentucky, wrote an article about their life together and how it lasted 7 decades. It was reprinted in the newspaper where they grew up, McCreary County. It's amazing how different of a time it was. They married so early in life, and so quick. Their wedding was far from extravagant, but what occurred on January 5th, 1944 in Williamsburg, Kentucky, no price could pay. There they said their vows and headed on back to McCreary to start their lives together. Generations later and here we are: planning a platinum wedding anniversary and creating a memory book about all of our history. I couldn't be more thankful to have the family I do. I've been raised with morals and understandings that many people all over the world will never know. I've witnessed hard work, dedication and love flourish into a dynasty of people who are led by the most inspiring couple a person could ever dream of. Dora and Lester are the reason I love history, they motivate me to want to know about my family, they make me proud of where I come from. I wish everyone in the world could have a couple like them to look at and observe as they grow up. It can really make all the difference. 

My project is coming along well. Family ties are beginning to make more sense and I have a good idea of where I need to go next. I cant wait to see the final product and present it to my family in April. This has been such an eye opening experience. 

One of the things I love most about being a Sumner is how we always manage to get all of us together, no matter what the distance and time has been between us. We have a group on facebook and everything, and everyone does a really good job about sticking together and supporting each other. This my rather large Sumner family... in 2004. Since then, we've been blessed with in-laws, new precious angels and even an entirely new generation. My grandparents are the head of 5 great lines of children and grandchildren. We we're in Myrtle Beach at the time celebrating 60 years of marriage between the world's greatest couple, mamaw and papaw Sumner. You can see them in the middle, good ole Dora and Lester. Myrtle Beach was hot spot for my mom's vacationing when she was growing up, so it only made sense that we all picked up and went South Carolina for a week. Since there are 7 kids of my grandparents, each of our minor families got a dinner alone with the king and queen of our clan. We spent our days lounging on the beach, floating in the lazy river and having game nights in our condos. The thing we love to do most is quite simple, however. We go on walks. It's become a tradition. That year we had shirts made for us specifically, each generation had its own assigned color, we put 'em on and paraded down the beach. We looked crazy, the whole swarm of us, and we still joke about it every time we're all together. I still have vivid memories of this vacation, it's the vacation I'm most fond of. The timing of this project couldn't be more perfect. We're approaching my grandparent's 70th anniversary party and papaw's 90th birthday. I can't wait to show off my project and my discoveries. I thank God everyday for putting these people in my life. 

I created my blog today, and just like new beginnings of everything else, I couldn't be more excited for what lies ahead of me. When I was customizing my blog about 15 minutes ago I quickly came across multiple files on my computer containing dozens of, what could have been mistaken for, long lost images. Luckily, I have a mom that I share quite a few interests with. She's the historian of the family, so when I catch up to her, we will be in this journey together. But for now, because she knows EVERYTHING, I asked her to choose a picture and tell me everything she knew about it. She chose the one below, very specifically I might add. It's a family portrait taken in McCreary County, Kentucky. Otherwise known as Honeybee. However, in Kentucky, where the counties are combined of multiple towns, the backwoods people just refer to their home as the county they're in and the land they live on. The picture was taken around 1924, and you can see my mamaw and her family, most likely dressed in their Sunday best. In the middle we have my great grandfather Hartle Bryant and to his right my great grandmother Flora Perry Bryant and in her lap, my sweet, now 88 years old, mamaw. To the left of my great papaw sits his two older daughters of a different marriage, Laura and Ethel, from left to right.  Front row, we have Billy, Lucy, and Margaret. On the body of Margaret, you can read "mom" written in pen, probably because someone was identifying this picture as belonging to my mamaw. So, there they sit on the porch of their little home by the creek. Lacking electricity and plumbing, the Bryant's were happier with much less than what most people have today.