Hey All,
I tried to send this while I was 'down home' but I couldn't get good service on my phone. Enjoy!
***
Welcome to Baker County, home of Newton, Georgia, where my great-great-great grandfather settled after escaping slavery, where my great-great grandmother learned to read, quilt, and fish, where my great-uncle raised chickens and healed sick animals, and where my entire family still comes to walk the old dirt roads and taste the love cooked by my great-grandmother, affectionately known as 'Aunt Nan' and 'Mom.' There's absolutely nothing like R&R that you get when traveling home...There's a good 36 hours til the card playing and egg nog drinking begins at my Family Reunion and I can't wait! My grandmother has done a phenomenal job orchestrating EVERYTHING - I did the initial planning but she's the one making it all happen.
As the time winds down, I'm reminded of the 'stock' that I have come from and why I am who I am. Why I love to write, play games, get folks together, and why I still feel like the baby - it just makes all the sense in the world.
My great-grandmother and her best friend Sallie Mae have been close for almost 80 years. I surprised her the other day at the market because we noticed her car in front of Dollar General. The town is so small and Aunt Sallie Mae is so well-respected that when she goes out to the post office or the market, she gives an employee a list of what she needs and they take care of it for her. When my grandmother and I walked up on Aunt Sallie Mae, she instantaneously brought up the same beloved story we run through every time I see her...
When I was around 6 years old, Aunt Sallie Mae watched me while my great-grandmother went on a fishing trip. I wanted to play outside or walk down the road to the mailbox but I pouted when she told me 'no.' So I sat around coloring or doing something else that bored me half to death and then she asked me to pour her a glass of water. And I did...and then I did again...and then I did again! Around the 3rd or 4th time she asked me to get up, I turned around and said, 'You must be on a water diet.' She died laughing.Now that I am older, that's a going joke because she knew that was my 'polite' indicator of saying 'No, I really don't want to get your water' OR 'If I go again, I'm bringing the whole pitcher.' So now when I see her, she tells me automatically, 'Baby, go get me some water' or I'll ask if she wants some and she chuckles.
There's also a similar story of my great-aunt babysitting me at 1.5 years old and demanding I go to bed and not wait up for my great-grandmother. When I peeked out of my bedroom a 2nd or 3rd time, she threatened to get a switch and I glared at her and walked back to my bed. But when Mom came home, I crawled out of bed and to the living room and started to 'tell Mom all about what happened' in my jibber-jabber language. And my great-aunt said, "Well shoot, I am so glad I didn't hit that baby cause she would have never forgiven me the way she's going off. That child is independent." My Aunt Mabel shared that story with me about three weeks before she passed last Memorial Day weekend.
I wish more kids and even people my age had these kinds of experiences with elder loved ones. It just makes everything so much more meaningful. I feel Granny (my great-great grandmother) is my guardian angel because sometimes I just get myself in a real pickle, and then all of a sudden I've escaped it and learned my lesson without seriously busting my behind and getting the real hardcore lesson! And right after I've somehow avoided the fire, I'm always yelling out, "Thank you!!!" cause it could have been a different way.
I'm excited to see everyone and share in the love and laughter that was created in Newton.
Have a wonderful holiday weekend!
Love
Kris
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