When I was a little girl we spent our days at Mamaw's house while mom worked. I can remember going into the house early in the morning and Mamaw would be waiting on us. We would lay back down, while Mamaw sat in the kitchen listening to the radio. She would listen to the radio all morning while smoking her cigarettes and drinking her coffee. I can remember Papaw getting up and calling her "Toots" and sometimes he would smack her on the butt. ha ha. Papaw was always being ornary with her. I remember always eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The one food she used to fix us, that still to this day reminds me of her when we fix it, is butter noodles. Those things were awesome.
I used to love picking cherry's from the cherry tree's out front, sitting on the swing with her and Papaw, or just watching Tom and Jerry until mom picked us up. I can remember Dinah and I playing under the kitchen table and laying on the chairs and falling asleep on them. She would just let us sleep under the table - crazy kids.
Mamaw's house was always nice and toasty in the winter with the wood stove in the kitchen. The furnace in the living room used to scare me sometimes when it came on. The silly things I can remember mean so much to me. Even the smellls that filled the house, the way the sun came in the living room window when we were working on a puzzle, the smell of our crayons when we would sit at the table and color, the way Mamaw would sit with her legs crossed every single time she sat down and the trips to the grocery store with Mamaw when she always, always, always would get those packs of meat with 4 or 5 different types of meat and as soon as we got home we would help her put all the groceries away and Papaw would say "Hey Toots, give me some of that meat out of there". I can remember lemonade wasn't lemonade it was "women's legs". lol
I can remember helping with Mamaw and Papaw's garden in the summer. It was so much fun getting dirt under my nails and finding all that food growing in the ground. It was my first time ever working in a garden. I can remember watching and smelling Mamaw can tomatoes, and make grape jelly (my favorite). I always thought it was awesome to go into the basement to get food after she put it in jars.
I'm gonna miss you so much MAMAW, I can't believe you are gone. The house and our lives are gonna feel so empty without you in them. I know you are in a much much better place and you are with all of your loved ones that you haven't seen in a while. I am looking forward to seeing you again real soon. I love you mamaw!!!!