Day 7

"Uncles and aunts, and cousins, are all very well, and fathers and mothers are not to be despised; but a grandmother, at holiday time, is worth them all."

Fanny Fern

 (My Mamaw - Did you know she was voted "Most Wittiest" from her high school class in 1939. Well...now you do!)

One week. One week from right now I will be celebrating my 30th birthday. 30 years on this earth. Being the youngest in my family, I'm the last one to hit this mark! Its made me think a lot about those that have gone before. My brother and sister....what was this day like for them? My parents...what was the world like when they turned 30? My grandmother? She turned 30 in 1952. What did she do for her 30th birthday?

Then, of course, once I started thinking about her...I couldn't stop. 

My Mamaw.

I've only ever had one grandparent. Well...I had others...but never knew them. They all passed away before I was born. So Mamaw was the only grandparent I ever knew. But she was enough. She was more than enough! That woman sure could love...and she loved me as well as 100 grandparents could all together. 

As I've sat here thinking about her today, so many little things come to mind. It's funny the things you relate to people. When I think of her, I immediately think of Christmas....of a beautifully set table, Andy Griffith's Christmas album playing, and the tree with all those same old ornaments. Every year at Christmas time, I would help Mamaw put up her tree. We all did, all the grandkids helped for a long time. But being the youngest, after the others left for college or moved away, it was just me and her in the later years. I loved those times together. She'd come and pick me up and take me to her house and we'd spend the afternoon decorating the tree together. The same little ornaments every year in that plain white box. We still have several of them....and I probably always will. 

Its impossible for me to see those tiny pickles, that gold caffeine free diet coke can, or a vanilla wafer without thinking of Mamaw. She had this circus cookie tin that held the vanilla wafers and all the grandkids would chow down on them with a caffeine free diet coke (that coke was really terrible, but that's what she always had!). And I, of course, would steal all the pickles from her fridge. My sister really wanted that circus cookie tin after Mamaw passed, but we couldn't find it. I hope we can find it one day. I wold love for Phoebe to grow up in a house with that tin full of vanilla wafers and a sense of her great-grandmother.

Then there's her smell....Aromatics Elixir. Whenever I smell that stuff, she is there. Immediately. That smell is her. And I love it. We still have some at the house in Georgia and I take a good whiff every time I'm home and just say "Hey Mamaw." I'd really like to get my hands on a bottle to keep out here in Cali. So we can visit whenever I want.

She and her sister, my Aunt Doris, were quite a pair. They were so close and always called each other "Sister." Laura and I have kept that alive....calling each other "Sistah." Its really special to me...to be close to my sister in that way and keep the memory of their relationship alive as well. 

And I WISH I could describe the sound she made when she would scold one of us kids...or the dog...trying to keep us from getting in to something we weren't supposed to. I'm pretty sure it was the word "here"...but sounded more like "HIUH!"... very flat and nasally. If my sister or my cousin Amy are reading this, they probably know eactly what I'm talking about!! I can't help but laugh thinking about it. 

I remember one time she was taking me to a birthday party while my parents were away and I asked her to put my hair up in a pony tail. Bless her, she tried! But then she just turned to me and said "I have two boys, I don't know how to do this!" 

I'm glad I have so many wonderful memories of my Mamaw. I will carry them with me always. I'll always remember her laugh. When she got tickled...man, was it cute! Just like my sister. I'll remember the way she talked about my grandaddy...how she loved him. How she loved her children. Her grandchildren. Her great grandchildren. She was a woman of faith, she loved deeply, and felt deeply. I'm 100% sure that I got that from her side. She sure could get emotional about things! And so can I! But I'm thankful to have gotten that trait.

I love my Mamaw so much. I miss her. I am still angry that she was taken from us by someone's carelessness, recklessness....but I have to let that go. She was in a lot of pain...and I am glad that she isn't anymore. She's gone home. To the paradise she's always dreamed of. I like to see her in my mind sitting on a front porch with my grandaddy and Aunt Doris....saying "HIUH" as Brian tried to get into something he's not supposed to. Her little dog Scarlett at her feet...and surrounded by all of the loved ones we've lost....

That is...until I get a whiff of that Aromatics Elixir...then...she sitting right here with me. 

Day 7: I am so grateful for the 24 years I got to share with Sarah Virginia Parker Thompson. My Mamaw. For every moment, every hug, every Christmas ornament and Mary Kay sample bag. For every Sunday in church and outings to Piccadilly after. For that smile...and that bright red lipstick. For her spirit, her laugh, and her love. I love you, Mamaw.