12/15/2023
My Mamaw and Papaw... Everyone has their memories and these are mine... I speak of both of them because you could not separate them and they hold some of my most precious moments... Their home was always a place of comfort and peace for me. I remember as a child there was always Ruffles potato chips and Kraft French onion dip, because that was my favorite. I remember that on special occasions, Thanksgiving, Christmas and family get togethers there was always a German chocolate cake, cuz that was my favorite. I remember they use to go to all my horses shows, even the ones hours away. They would pack that motor home up and stay the whole weekend no matter the destination. They never missed a Birthday.... every year Mamaw would tell me the story of when I was born. How she flew all the way out to California to see me and how she cried and cried when she had to leave me to go home. Tonight I am crying because I missed that story this year. I remember taking my vacations to fly down to Florida to go to Blue grass festivals with them. I remember laying across the couch of the motor home reading a book and in the background I could here Pawpaw fussing about some driver cutting him off and such, then Memaw telling him he was driving to close... I would smile because in all those years they never spoke in anger to one another and never lost their temper with each other. They had a perfect rhythm! Memaw loved to go to Cherokee, she loved those slot machines and sometimes I would go to... I would split my time between sitting with Memaw feeding those nickel machines and walking around with Papaw talking about our Native American lineage and watch the show with both of them that night, usually it was a Bluegrass band playing. I remember even as I got older thei place was always a second home... if I had a bad day or was just utterly exhausted from work I would find myself pulling up in their driveway. I could escape there... I could talk about everyday things or sometimes I would just fall asleep on the couch. I would wake up a few hours later and dinner would be ready. They never asked if I was eating or not, there was just simply always enough. That is how they were. Always counted me in.... I am truly blessed to have had them in my life, so many special memories!!!! They are so very much loved and so very much missed!!!!!
