I am going to answer two questions today, because one of them is pretty short. So the first question is:
Do you remember any of your great grandparents? Tell as much about them as you can remember.
My Mema was a sweet and loving woman who loved to play games, tell stories, and laugh. She could play a mean game of 42, and to her, dominoes were serious business! And while I only ever saw the sweet side of her...I know full well that she could stand her ground when she needed to. When something did not sit right with her, she would stand her ground and not back down until it was taken care of. She loved to crochet and knit, and always had her knitting basket beside her. My mom and dad still use some of the snowflake and Santa ornaments that Mema made on their Christmas tree every year. Even in her 80's she could bake the best peach cobbler I have ever tasted in my life. I still crave it, even though she has been gone for 10 years now. She could whip up an entire meal for a whole house full of people in no time flat and she made it look easy! She cooked from scratch, and her food was phenomenal.
After my baths at night, she loved to sit and brush my long hair. She would ever so gently run the brush through my hair and by the time she was done, I was so relaxed that I generally went right to sleep. But the very best part about her brushing my hair were the stories she told me while she brushed. I wish I could remember more of them, but I am grateful for the things I do remember. After all, it is not every day that you get to hear stories from someone that grew up in the roaring twenties, survived the Great Depression, worked to help our country's men through WWII, saw a man walk on the moon, and watched everything from television to the Internet be invented.
My Mema lived off of a little dirt road in a little two bedroom one bathroom house. Her house had a tiny front porch with just enough room for a porch swing on it. And her house and yard were always pristine. She loved to garden, and could grow anything known to man. It didn't matter what season it was, her flower beds were always beautiful. One of the houses next door to her was always empty, I think it had been in a fire or something like that, but I am not sure. The other house next door to her had various people in it throughout my life. There was a large field behind her house and I do not remember there being anyone across the dirt road from her, but I could be mistaken on that as well. I can tell you that there were really neat train tracks down the street from her house. My dad and I used to go for walks along them. There was also an old Victorian house at the end of her road that sat in total disrepair for most of my life. I loved to go walk around it and look at the neat wrap around front porch. Then someone bought it and fixed it all up. It was absolutely beautiful!
She went to a little one room church (a Church Of Christ church) that was just down the road from her house. Her faith was extremely important to her, and she loved to go to church. My parents chose not to go to church when I was growing up, which never sat well with her. She told me once that she prayed every day that they would change their minds, and that it was something that had always been painful for her. But she made sure to keep me supplied with all sorts of bible books and stories. Mema gave me one of my very first Bibles. It is a sold white leather Bible, and I still use it today.
One of the funniest memories to me, is of the gun that she always kept under her pillow on her bed. I think she stopped keeping it there as I got older, but I sure remember it being there when I was little! I never saw her pick it up, but something makes me quite certain that she would have had no problems using it if the occasion had ever come up! It always seemed like such a contradiction for the kind and smiling Mema that I knew to sleep with a gun, but she did! It always made me wonder what she would have been like as a young woman...
I always looked forward to Mema coming to our house for Christmas every year. She would come stay with us for several weeks at a time, and I always loved it! She loved Christmas and her joy was almost tangible! She loved everything from the lights to the holiday baking. She is one of the reasons that I love Christmas so very much. When Mema came to stay with us, she would always make all sorts of goodies for us to much on. She helped my mom with everything from re potting her houseplants to cooking Christmas dinner. She would sit and crochet or read while I played. One Christmas everyone but Mema came down with the flu, and she nursed everyone of us back to health.
We went to Mema's house almost every Easter, and I remember having so much fun! She always cooked enough food for an army, and we dyed real eggs to hide. She loved to dye eggs, and I don't ever remember her using a kit. She made the dye herself! One Easter she worried that we wouldn't have enough eggs after she finished cooking dinner. So she and I went to the store to pick up some more. And I, for the first time in my life, came to understand why she didn't drive much! I thought for sure that I was a goner!! We had to get onto the highway to get to the nearest store, but she didn't drive at highway speeds...so cars were flying around and past us. I was sure that we were both going to be smashed to smithereens, but it didn't seem to phase her in the least! We managed to get the eggs and get back to her house, but I never volunteered to ride in the car with her again! Another year, my dad hid the Easter eggs, but there was one egg that we just couldn't find....and he couldn't remember where he had hidden it. Mema said she could smell it, and that it smelled something awful, but she never did find it.
Mema actually went her whole life without ever catching the chicken pox. Now they have vaccines to keep people from getting them, but they didn't then, and despite nursing all of her children and grandchildren through them, she never came down with them herself.
One thing I deeply wish is that I could remember more of the specific stories that she told me about her life. I remember that she told me stories about the first time she watched a TV or rode in a car, but I was too little to remember the details. I do know that she was an incredible woman, and I am forever thankful that I was able to grow up knowing and loving her! I pray with every ounce of my being that Jay will be able to keep his four surviving great grandparents around for a long time too!!
What is your worst habit?
Ha ha this one is easy for me to answer! My absolute worst habit is walking around barefooted. Don't get me wrong, I love a cute pair of shoes, and when I go out I love to wear them. But around my house and even around my yard, I rarely wear shoes. This habit may not sound so bad at first, but the gnarly calluses it leaves on my feet are definitely something I could do without! Have you ever seen those infomercials for foot cream where the persons foot is so rough that it can pop a balloon? That is my foot. OK, so maybe it is not my foot, and maybe my feet aren't really that bad, but I bet the pedicure ladies still hate to see me coming...
Um, and if you run from your computer in fear and decide to never grace the pages of my blog again after reading this, I will understand.... But I had to be honest, even if that meant sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Whew, well, there you have it! I made it through my very first Journal Jar Tuesday!! Be sure to check back next week for the 2nd Journal Jar Tuesday. And if you are feeling especially brave, you can journal along with me! Because you might not thing your worst habit is overly interesting...but your grandkids or great grandkids just might!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment