snippets from the last few days.

lets see. i left off christmas afternoon. i got to see most all of my amazing family. it was so much fun. dad's side of the family is growing by leaps and bounds. kerri, my cousin shawn's wife, is expecting twins and that was so exciting!!! by the end of the night we all FELT like we were expecting twins there was so much food! i got a purple velour sweatshirt, i got a black velour sweatshirt. and a black shirt. and money. the money was so nice. i can actually do something fun! like buy a christmas present! then last night we went over to papaw's.

it was very strange not having mamaw there at all. she loved christmas so much. but we all had fun just seeing eachother. when i walked in the house, i noticed a very peculiar smell...like skunk. after making a few descrete inquiries, i found out that papaw has a colony of skunks living under his house. it isn't just a small family, it is a full blown city! my cousin luke was joking that papaw had polecat for christmas dinner! ok, so i am stuck in the hills and i really slip into the west virginia roots. the country music (old country...bluegrass...), the dropin of the ends of words, the country humor...it is amazing.

papaw was in rare form tho last night. he had story after story to tell. he told one about aunt carla, which i WILL NOT repeat here for all to read...but we were all laughing so hard we were fit to bust a gut! aunt doris talked a mile a minute and uncle ronnie just sat back with his hands folded over his belly just smiling at all the goings-on. he works for little debbie...so his belly is quite like old saint nick's. =) luke and cindy and hannah jo were there. hannah jo is just now learining to walk, and is so cute. maddison, carl and mindy's little girl, is learning that she can stick her tongue out and get rave reviews from the grownups! but they are both shy so i had my work cut out for me. angie was there with her two girls, makenna and alyssa. they both drew me a picture and we had so much fun chasing each other around the house. at the end of the evening, we solemnly exchanged addresses and i gave them my cell phone number, with the promise of many letters and pictures. but they had to promise that they couldn't call without their mother's permission and after 7:00 pm. they are adorable. makenna is seven and alyssa is five. angie told me a story about the other day alyssa ran up to her and was all excited that she learned how to spell a word. when her mother asked her which word alyssa said "DVD!" Angie tried to keep a straight face and asked her how to spell DVD. Alyssa said "D-V-D!" she was so proud of herself! Angie then asked her if she knew how to spell UPS...Alyssa was stumped with that one! =)

the night got a little harder when it was just my family and papaw. we were sitting in the front room where mamaw would always sit in her chair, and he started telling us about how lonely he got. that he missed her so much that he would just sit there and talk to her chair. that got mer and i crying, but it was a good kind of crying. towards the end, he just kept talking and talking, knowing that when we left he would be alone again. we stood at the door for about 45 min. he hugged me at least five times and said, "now honey, you come back now, you hear? i won't be here forever. just like mamaw, i could slip away at any time. you just never know." that was hard, cause i knew it was true. i think that is why i fought so hard to get up here. i wanted to see my grandparents. i realized the value of family. they are my family thru thick or thin. they are lovely and colorful. and they will love me no matter what.

but despite the sad evening, it was lovely to see papaw. he looked good, but cries at a drop of a hat. it is hard to see my papaw who has been strong for so long appear weak. he has always seemed like such a big man. not tall or strong, but just a big man. and now he seems small and frail and tired. he keeps talking about going to mamaw. he misses her, and wants to be with her. after the sadness and papaw crying, me crying, mer crying, i walked outside and it was snowing. it was so beautiful. small little flakes falling gently down to the ground. i just lifted my face up to the sky and the little dots of cold fell all over my face. it was beautiful. it was a little bit of happiness falling from heaven.

today was better...today i drove an hour and a half with aunt carla to westerville to her doctor. we had so much fun in the car. i was driving, and she and i got so much talk time in. it was lovely. we spent an hour in the doctors office, then went over to new albany to visit mary jane, fufu, abigail, caroline and jim. it was so much fun. i haven't seen them in over a year...and it was a beautiful time of catch up. mary jane is so wonderful. i was so glad to spend time with her, and looking at pictures with jim from paris, bath, london...and more. tons and tons of pictures! mary jane wanted to hype me up for my trip this summer!

well, anyway, today was a wonderful day. it was lovely. i leave for south carolina tomorrow...drive drive drive all day. so if you have time and you have my phone number, please text message me or call me! i would LOVE to be not bored in the car!!!