Mee in a Tree

Yeah, I cheated and cropped the pic. Folks said I looked good, but I ain't buying it! Not after seeing the other half of that pic! :O
Anyway, we had a family reunion at my grandmother, Mama Pearl's, old house. Oh boy! The memories just flooded back, so fast and overwhelming I found myself in tears several times. But they're all good memories, unless you count the one time I felt really guilty 'cause I got mad when PapPap (my grandfather)had me bagging leaves and I didn't want to. I don't even think he knew I was mad about it, or if he did, he didn't let on. But I sure did feel guilty about being mad!
The magnolias are still flanking the front walk, a bit bigger than they were when I was growing up. We climbed those trees day and night, rain or shine...Mama Pearl would get upset if I climbed up there when it was thundering. Oh, she hated thunderstorms! She never called them thunderstorms...they were electrical storms. And everytime one came along she'd have us going around the house unplugging electrical thing except the fride and freezer! She wasn't gonna have that electricity coming through and taking out HER stuff. She really appreciated everything she had and knew how to take care of it. I thought she went overboard on unplugging everything, but I did it anyway, figuring it was just one of those things.
Uncle James lives in the old house now, and he's kept it much the same as it was. It felt like coming home, pulling up the long driveway and walking through the front door. Oh, and the store we used to walk to? We thought we were so big,walking so far down the road to go to the store. Turns out that store wasn't so far down the road after all. It MIGHT have been 50 yards, but because we coudln't see her house from there (for all the trees), it sure felt like a loooonnnngggg way from the house!Mama Pearl would send us with a few dollars to get some milk or bread, things she probably didn't really need but she knew we thought we were hot-stuff walking to the store! She'd always include a few extra pennies for us to buy ourselves some candy.
OH, and I've GOT to tell this little vignette. We were standing around saying our goodbyes to Aunt Myrt, Kay, Margie & Anna. They were telling me how pretty I looked, and one of them mentioned that I looked like Laine. Oh, be still my heart! In my opinion, Laine's always been the beautiful one with the perfect body(and I know I'm so far from that but it sure felt good to hear that I looked like her!). Well, those that know Aunt Myrt know her heart, and you know that she usually sticks her foot in her mouth. So when whoever said I looked like Laine, dear Aunt Myrt said, "No she don't; I think she looks good!" :)