MeeMaw & PawPaw

The past few weeks have been somewhat emotional for my family. My MeeMaw & PawPaw have made the decision for themselves to put my MeeMaw in a nursing home. They've just reached the point where my grandmother requires full time care, something that PawPaw can't handle on his own anymore. My mother is an only child so she has carried a large chunk of this burden all her own; and while my father is there to help and be a support for her, there's just something about it being your own parents that makes it particularly difficult. So a lot of my thoughts and prayers lately have been focused on them. And in doing so, many sweet memories have been brought to mind...some that I'd like to share...

- Sunday afternoons - Growing up we lived about 30 minutes away from M & P, so after church on Sundays we'd head to their house for lunch. Fried chicken and biscuits and home-grown veggies (although I didn't eat the veggies). My MeeMaw made the best, and thank goodness she has passed that down to my mother!
- Speaking of home-grown veggies, they had an incredible garden. I remember running down the rows of corn and almost feeling lost.
- Bubble gum - there was a certain kitchen drawer that had a small little basket in it that was always full of super bubble.
- The Other Place - my PawPaw raised cows. There at their home they had a bunch of land back behind their house and cows and a barn. But then they had some more land a few miles away where they raised cows and had a barn. And somehow it got named "The Other Place". We used to go with PawPaw to feed the cows -"kids, let's hop in the truck and go feed the cows at the other place" and we knew exactly where we were going. And the hay barn there was a blast. We would climb the stacks of hay and jump off and wrestle. Fun! And the cleaned out cattle trailer made for some great entertainment as well!
- the plum tree - they had a yummy plum tree in their backyard; we would pick them right off the tree and enjoy. I think I got a few tummy aches from that.
- ice cream - there was always ice cream in my MeeMaw's freezer. I think this is where I inherited my love for it.
- Christmas shopping - PawPaw always took me and my brother and sister Christmas shopping. And I remember we always went to Wendy's to eat lunch so PawPaw could get some chili.
- "Christmas gift" - I'm really not sure how this got started, but we play this little game...on Christmas Eve and Christmas day you try to see who can say "Christmas Eve gift" or "Christmas gift" first. You don't win anything except the sheer pleasure of beating the other person to it. So it was fun sneaking into their house on Christmas day and shouting "Christmas gift" before they even knew we were there. And to this day, if I'm away from my family on this holiday and my phone rings, I answer the phone with "Christmas gift".
- speaking of Christmas, after all of the family and Santa gifts were open my MeeMaw and MeeMee(my grandmother's twin sister) would have additional gifts to open...gag gifts, however some were quite useful. You never knew what you were going to get - a pound of sugar, a roll of toilet paper, a jar of pigs feet - you just never knew. It was fun watching each person open these gifts. It made for many laughs.
- dancing - they had an old stereo that played records and I remember my sister and I dancing to our 2 favorite records that MeeMaw owned - "Shake your Booty" and "My Boogie Shoes".

Precious memories that I will always treasure. I'm very thankful to my family for making these memories for me. I'm hoping to pass these moments down to our children, and I know we'll have some help from their grandparents. So mom, I dedicate this post to you, because through all of this season of change and hardship you've shown me how much more I want to be like you!