THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES

"I love you because you are proud of where you come from!"

That was one of the cards from CariAnna in my birthday deck of cards.  It's true.  I have been lucky enough to come from 2 amazing families.  Don't get me wrong.....there are some crazies in my family but isn't there one in every family?  You know you are thinking of one right now!!  Well, I love all of them, crazy or not, and I want my kids to grow up to appreciate and cherish the little things and the crazies alike.

With this in mind I needed to find a place for us to have family photos made.  I knew I wanted somewhere that meant something.  Somewhere that when we looked back at the pictures in 40 years there were generations of stories to tell so I chose my Granny and Papaw's Place.  I knew I would love the photos but I never knew how much until today when I saw them.

The first area was the barn.  I remember as a kid this place would be piled high with the hay the family baled each summer.  There was nothing more thrilling that riding on the top of the truck while the men folk loaded the bales of hay one by one.  I can smell that fresh cut grass like it was yesterday.   All of us kids could not wait for the barn to be filled again because we always played in there every Sunday when we would go there for dinner.  We would begin at the bottom of the pile pulling out bales of hay out making a maze throughout the very large stack. Once we got toward the inner core of the pile we would pull out enough bales to make an awesome clubhouse hidden from our unsuspecting Papaw.  That is until one day as he was on top throwing down hay for the cattle he was very shocked to find our clubhouse when he fell into it from the top.   As I think back on this amazing feat it scares me to death!  If it had caved in on us while inside I am sure we would have smothered to death.  I distinctly remember it being about 200 degrees inside there but we did not care.  It is a memory I will carry with me forever.

Of course the kids had to have their picture made on Papaw Dock's tractor.  My Papaw Dock had Alzheimer's all during my kids life so they never really new him as the fun, practical joker he was (most likely why he didn't get mad at us about the clubhouse).  I hope someday when they look at this picture they can know that the hard working attitude that worked this very tractor on a farm to feed 8 kids, in a time when if you didn't work....you didn't eat,  is the same one I pray they have.  I felt him there that day!  He would love me kids, I know he would!

And then there was Papaw Dock's old wrecker.  Wow....as we walked across the hill there it was.  Grass growing high around it, rusting away as quickly as the time has flown by.  When the Photographer ask me if she could use it for pictures I didn't think much of it. She asked me to step up onto the back.   I was instantly transformed into the little girl who, many many years ago, would hold on to the cables on each side of the beam and walk to the very top.  I felt like I was 10 feet tall.  Now if you looked at it today you would just think it is a rusty pile of junk.  I want my children to know that this very wrecker pulled their Daddy out of the ditch on a New Years Eve night when he hit a patch of ice on his way home from going with me to a church party.  First night he told me he loved me.  Tommy says even today when he hears Foreigner's song I WANNA KNOW WHAT LOVE IS  he thinks of that accident because it was playing on the radio.  I am sure there are 1,000's of stories of how he got up in the middle of the night and help people out........a testament of his life. 

Granny let us use one of her quilts for the photo shoot.  She was having a very good day.  She is 94 years old.  Doesn't always know who you are but she knows that she loves you, she is awfully glad you came to see her and you better come back soon.   Papaw has been gone from the earth for a few years but for many years before that he, in his own words,  just wanted to go home.  When I looked at this picture all I could think about was how Granny and Papaws love will always be wrapped around my family, like this quilt.  They passed it down to my Daddy and he is passing it on to us and we WILL pass it on.

Families don't visit each other like they used to.  We are guilty of that.  I would not trade those Sunday afternoon memories for anything.  I know as we get into those teen years and older we have so much to do and family is not at the top of our priority list.  As I get older those priorities have changed and family get more important to me every day.  This is my prayer for my children, my family and my friends......make all your family a priority......when their gone it will be too late. 


My sweet Granny is 94 years Old


[A special Thanks to my friend April Pittman McFarland at Little Mustard Seed Photography for the photo session.  I wouldn't trade it for nothing!  You rock and we love you!!]