Not Easy

Right now...a lot of people that I love are struggling with health problems.  Most urgently, my Aunt Faye is battling cancer and is in a lot of pain.  I can't begin to tell you how precious Aunt Faye is to me.  She now lives in Texas, so I haven't been able to see her in a couple of years, but she is very much a part of who I am.  Some of my favorite childhood memories are when Aunt Faye and Aunt Jean would spend the night with my grandmother.  I loved to visit and listen to them singing along with Grandma.

You'd be weird too if your grandmother used to sing this song to you all of the time.  She always told me that it was a true story.  I can hear the three of them singing it now:

On the Banks of the Ohio

Come my love let's take a walk
Just a little way away
While we walk along we'll talk
Talk about our wedding day

(chorus)
Only say that you'll be mine
And in our home we'll happy be
Down beside where the waters flow
Down on the banks of the Ohio

I drew my knife across her throat
And to my breast she gently pressed
Oh please, oh please, don't murder me!
For I'm unprepared to die you see

I taken her by her lily white hand
I let her down and I made her stand
There I plunged her in to drown
And watched her as she floated down

Returning home 'tween twelve and one
Thinking of the deed I'd done
I murdered the girl I love you see
Because she would not marry me

Next day as I was running home
I met the sheriff standing in the door
He said young man come with me and go
Down to the banks of the Ohio

Apparently there are a lot of versions of this song.  Have any of you ever heard it before?  I'm sure that if there are any Helms' reading this post...they have a smile on their face.

And...if you think about it, please "pray for Faye".  She is a very special lady that I love very much.