I have started writing this blog post at least 10 times and then have erased what I was typing because I haven’t been exactly sure how I wanted to start it. Truth is, if I’m just being transparent and honest this Thanksgiving I’m somewhat of a hot mess. A huge piece of my heart met Jesus just a few days ago. She was one of the strongest, hard headedest, caring woman I knew! She was a force to be reckoned with when she needed to be, and shaped me into the woman that I am today. I lived with my Grandparents most of my life and have such great memories, but have hardly any pictures to document those memories.
I remember always having extra people at our house. It seems we always had someone living with us that didn’t have somewhere else to go. My Grandfather was in a wheelchair, so Nana would hire someone that was salvation army, to come work at the house to do repair work or yard work, etc about once a month… it seemed that after that, within a month or so, that person would just start showing up for dinners or food. There were many of those people that just stayed in touch. Before I was born, I was told she was driving home one day, I think it was near Christmas, and saw a solider in uniform walking carrying his bags and she pulled over and he was trying to get to a hotel to stay the night… she said absolutely not, he could come stay at her house and get a hot meal… this was just the type person she was… you were going to be fed and taken care of… And gracious day could she cook! We always had a huge Thanksgiving meal at our house and everyone would come. We’d have a house full of people and not one person would take pictures… and now all I can do is tell my children about it.
My kids will never know Nana like I knew and remember Nana. They won’t know what the house looked like that I grew up in. There are no pictures of all of Nana’s decorations. The woman LOVED decorations! Every. Single. Holiday. Didn’t matter if it was Easter, Valentines Day, or Christmas. We have a couple from Christmas…. but not many… But when I say she loved decorations… I mean at Christmas we’d have people that lined up down our street to come to see our house.. our house was in local contests and even was on the news for their decorations… it took weeks to finish the decorations… For Easter, we had to put plastic eggs hanging from all the trees, etc… everything was decorated!
I noticed when I was going through, getting pictures ready for her service that there were multiple pictures of her as a little girl. There were more pictures of her as a child then there were of her and I together and she was born in 1943. I think it would be safe to say that is probably true for at least 85% of the population. As adults, we don’t want our picture taken. We’re going to wait… until we lose more weight, or until we have the time to get coordinating outfits together, etc… as adults we always have excuses not to be in the picture… but we’re going to make sure we have pictures of our kids!
Let me assure you there will come a day… where your children may be the ones wading through boxes of pictures, clinging to the hope that they can find pictures of the two of you together. My Dad passed away at 57. I remember the same gut-wrenching feeling with him. I would encourage you don’t let this be your children. Take the pictures. So today, after you’ve cooked all day, and you’re exhausted, and you just want to sit and lounge and take a nap, before all that… take a picture! When I got to the point where I was old enough to start really taking pictures myself, Nana had had a massive stroke and had slowly started progressing with dementia and while we had pictures they weren’t while she looked “healthy.”
Please continue to pray for our family, as we go through the holiday season, and cherish each memories you make today. I am surely thankful for my memories. Especially pray for my sweet babies who are having such a hard time with Nana being gone.
We are thankful for each of you and look forward to 2019. You may have noticed over the past few months we have not been very active on social media. I SO need to do better with that haha… I promise I’ll try and work on that in the new year! These last few months have been trying and long, between two hurricanes, remodeling our home due to water damage to our floors (happened before the storm believe it or not, because we have that kind of luck), me having major surgery, and Nana’s passing, we are ready for a new season filled with joy and calmness!!!
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!!
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