When I was growing up I lived in GA and my grandmother lived in TN. We would see her at Christmas usually, sometimes Thanksgiving, and always during the summer. Some summers she would come spend a few weeks with us. Other summers my sister and I would go spend some time with her. We loved going to Granny's! Anytime we went to visit we could be sure there would be a Hershey's chocolate cake with coconut waiting for us. We would have cereal at her little kitchen table by the window that looked out onto my Uncle Jack's farm. I can sometimes still smell my Granny's house. Oh, how I love when that happens!
Granny was a lady with a wonderful sense of humor. She loved to laugh. She loved the children. I remember her always being interested in what my niece, Shelbie, was doing when she was 3, 4, and 5 years old. I only wish that my children could have had the chance to meet her. I was proud though that, when I was watching the video the other night and Chad came in the room, he was able to correctly answer my question of, "Do you know who this is?" I want them to know who she is and what she stood for. She was a believer in the traditional family. She raised her 8 children in the mountains of WV, grew what they ate, and went hunting for squirrels and rabbits with my grandpa. She had 3 babies in diapers at one time and remembered hanging diapers on the line in winter and her fingers freezing to the line. We have it so easy these days! I can't imagine working the way she worked. But those were the times. You just did what you had to do.
I miss my Granny. I miss the times spent in her house in TN, staying up late with my cousin, watching The Price Is Right with Granny sitting in her rocker, feeding the cats on her front porch, or just sitting and listening to the adults talk. It was a sense of belonging, of family. My family. And she was at the heart of it.
