It doesn't take long to be with me, before you know I love Mississippi......and if I don't somehow mention my roots....my accent is a dead give away. I will always be a Mississippi girl at heart. When we crossed the state line, I felt at ease immediately. I gave out a hoop and holler as we snaked down hwy 45 on the way to pick up our kids. Jay didn't even look at me like I'm crazy b/c he felt it too. We were home.
We kicked off this summer's week-long visit in Starkville. Willie and Ruby preceded us by a couple of days and were thrilled when we arrived. They are very at home at Gran and Granny's. Ruby's first thing she wanted to show me was her "other room." Uncle Jeff and Aunt Laura always come for a family dinner at a minimum. Ruby wanted to see Aunt Laura's baby in her belly and kept trying to pull up her dress. Uncle Jeff was playing Willie in battleship which was so nostalgic for me since I remember playing many games of Battleship at my own grandmother's. We were grateful to see great grandma Frances at her new house before heading out of town the next day. Gran and Granny had some fun but were ready to recuperate before their big Alaska trip.
Then we were headed South. After 30 minutes on the road, it was time for lunch so we stopped in Louisville to eat with Uncle Jeff. Hit the fried pickles there.... so mark that off my must-do list.
Then we made it another couple of hours to Brandon to do a surprise pick up of cousin Reagan and stop by Uncle Steven's office for bathroom break. We were like a herd of cows tromping in there and interrupting business. Everyone was glad to see each other and the ol' boy Steven was meeting with didn't seem to mind the interruption one bit claiming that b/c he was from Magee....it was all good. Ruby looked up and was horrified (her face was like a deer in headlights) by the 13 point mounted on Steven's wall. I tried to reassure it wasn't one of the deer from our backyard and it was a prize to be proud of in this case.....I'll never forget the day he killed that deer in high school. I was working a little holiday day job basically 3 counties away from the big kill. I hear someone at the office say that some kid had killed a 13 point that morning in Madison County. It didn't take me long to confirm (pre-cell phone) it was Steven who I knew had been hunting over there and I proudly spread the word it was my brother!
That night, we all met at my mama and daddy's for long-awaited family time. Uncle Steven and Aunt Charity joined us for fresh vegetables (including perfectly fried okra) and I can't even remember the meat now since the okra was so right. The next couple of days, we hit Uncle Joel's pool which is my favorite swim spot in the world. 1) it's always hot and I'm not freezing in the pool 2) the pool is situated such that you can only see sky when in the water and 3) cows come up to the split rail to peer in. We also hit the same spring-fed creek we visited last year. The boys skipped rocks for hours and we sat our chairs in the creek after our picnic. Ruby played in the sand and blew bubbles in the creek. On Thursday night, we went to the fish house in Shivers. We were grateful to be in town on a Thursday night this year so we had our pick of which fish house to visit. We drove about half hour to this fish house and my Aunt June, MaryAnn and Uncle Butch met us there. Can't beat eating fried fish and getting to have a little reunion all at the same time.
Mama and I got to do shopping for the first time in about 5 years (my kids are getting of age to hang....)......I like to hit Cutie Pa Tootie's end of season sale for Ruby. Plus, I got to visit the Cotton Patch this year.....beautiful fabrics for $5 a yard. For those of you like Jay and wondering, that's about 1/4 of what I'd pay at my favorite fabric store here. I figure they basically have no overhead so they can afford to sell close-out fabrics at an unbelievable deal. They need a guest book there b/c folks were coming from all over the country....as this Nashville girl was leaving some folks from PA were entering.
Reagan had to get home to start first grade on Friday so it was just us.....the sad part came when I made the 5 a.m. decision that we'd just go on home late that afternoon with Jay (in lieu of him flying which was the original plan after a key recruit rearranged his visit to campus). The kids were exhausted and while I cried for having to leave....this Mississippi girl was ready for home in Nashville, TN. We headed out after Jay got to do his annual work at the Sheriff's office with Daddy and we spent some time with my Grandma Nina at her nursing home. Not sure if she knew us. She cannot talk well now but she plainly said "that's a nice boy" when I reintroduced her to Jay. She's always loved him.
Thanks to all of our family for the rearranging of schedules and personal sacrifices made when we make our visits. It can be hard to live far away but it does make the visits so sweet and we truly appreciate everyone's efforts to take off from work, plan fun outings, cook favorite meals and create the quality time we so treasure.
Jay did his recruiting thing on Saturday when we got back. The kids and I just were thrilled to unpack and be at home never leaving the place. We're caught up and refreshed, for Kindergarten registration is tomorrow!
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