Thankful for memories
So yesterday I was reminded about cousins and how cousins are some of our first friends. Blood and friends. This is so true. Donna and Debbie are my cousins. Actually if you do the math the way we count cousins in our family we are third cousins. My Papaw James and their Grandma Smith were brother and sister. Aunt Mildred died when we were very little. I only remember her name. I wish I knew her. I did know Aunt Maggie (her sister). She always wrote us cards and signed "Love Aunt Margaret" and I don't believe I ever saw her without all her make up on and dressed to the nines. She was a beautiful lady. I am sorry she lived so far away. I will never forget when Papaw was so sick in ICU. She and I were there for the Sunday morning 9 am visit. As we were walking into his room, he stopped breathing. I will never forget Dr Gul standing over him asking me if we were re-intubating. I said yes. He didn't want that, but I couldn't let him go without a fight and he never woke after that. He died in the wee hours of Monday morning. I digress. By the way, that was the same room Rick spent 5 of his last six weeks in. I really don't like that room. Back to Donna and Debbie. The first memories of my spending the night away from home was a sleepover at their house. I got homesick and I believe if you read my blog, you remember my talking about my cousin Jean, their mom. She rocked me to sleep. Sweet Memories. Donna and Debbie had Midge, Skipper and Scooter dolls, I had Barbie. We played and played. We went on girl trips to Bowling Green, them and their mom, me and my mom-- when I had eye Dr appointments, they went too (Jean drove) and we ate at Woolworth's lunch counter. Remember that? And we sang songs to and from BG. One goes "if I had the wings of a buzzard, straight to a dead horse I'd fly, fill my guts with consumption and lay there and puke til I die" and the blackbird song, and I spy.. the list could go on and on... Donna was my freshman buddy when us eighth graders went to high school for the day to see how it would go. After I was Baptized, we went to their house and played in the yard for hours. Donna and I went to GSPN together. We rode together until she moved to Glasgow. She worked at TJ after we graduated on the OB area. I worked at a nursing home in Leitchfield first, then to City-Co Hospital then she came on there a few months later. We worked together until I moved to MA. We taught CPR together. We rode around after work until all hours of the early am. Good times. And I had a difficult time figuring out how their Davis cousins weren't my cousins too... and I think there might have been a little jealousy there.....Then there was those Childress girls I grew up with. Snip, Jiggy, and Sas. We spent many summers playing together. There are about a dozen of them . All of them have a nick name. I would have to think about it to get their real name.
And there was Vickie Lee. From before school started for us in first grade when Aunt Willowdean was our teacher (her grandma) to not too long ago, we were best friends. We still are. We may not see each other as often as we used to, but if I needed her she would be here and I would be there for her as well. I could never figure out how come she called my mom "Aunt Aleen" and her mom was Elsie. Later I finally figured out mom was Elsie's aunt (Elsie's dad was moms oldest brother). And let me tell you something, Elsie can make the best divinity! Yum! When we were in 7th or 8th grade, Andrea came along then Tyra after that. Andrea had such a great singing voice. She has gone on to rest. I miss her.
Davey aka Dopey Doe was another cousin, his birthday is Christmas Day. So is Mark's. They are a year apart. Davey's dad used to take us to the lake to swim down at dog creek. We had good times. He would stop at Tooters and get us cokes and peanuts on the way there or on the way back to Mamaw Childress's. Scott came along later, younger than Doug.
So many more cousins we would spend time with. Nancy and John. Linda and Jo, Rarely Danita and Keith, Melanie and Kim. Garry and Glen were two we saw often too. Garry was riding his bike in the yard one day, popped a wheelie and poof, off went the tire and down he went. I told his daughter about it and she asked if he remembered. He did. Sherry and Denise were two more we rarely got to see until 1972 when Uncle Owen's term in the Marines ended and they moved back. I say back, the girls and their mom never lived in KY until then. Kathy was from Virginia. They were blessed that they got to spend their last 3 years in the service together as a family in Hawaii. Denise was our first nurse in the family. Well, I say that, Mamaw Childress wasn't a nurse as in went to school to be a nurse but she was a midwife in their community and attended many neighbors births including the birth of her twin grandsons Terry and Jerry. Ha. Then Donna and I, then her sister Debbie, and Linda Sue who wasn't kin but might as well have been. Then my sister in law Donita. And now I have 2 nieces in nursing school. Ashley (Jeffrey's wife) at BG Tech, and Brittany in Ohio. Pauletta, Jill and Sue were more like aunts than cousins, they were that age where we were too little to hang around them, but they were not quite adults. But close. I remember being about 3 and spending the night with Sue. She used Dippity-Do on my hair and spoolies. Remember those? Jerry, Terry and Roger were just a bit younger than Jill and Sue but too old to play with us. Most of Aunt Rosie's grandkids are our ages and younger. There are many, many more cousins I haven't even touched on. I love them all. Some I have met over Facebook no less. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings for sure. Don't mean to leave anyone out! There are the Pierce cousins... Mamaw Childress was a Pierce. Perhaps you remember Uncle Kelly Pierce, he was a preacher. He was Mamaw's brother. His kids are mom's age and grandkids are also my age. Kay, Janice, Elaine, Denise, Donna, on and on... Janice drove the first school bus Nick rode on. He said, mom, she makes me sit down. She tells me backs to backs and bottoms to bottoms. and he laughed and laughed. He loved when she drove his bus.
I love all y'all!
To be continued.....
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