Everybody went through Grandma's house

When I was a child summer at Grandma’s house was a revolving door of company. We lived next door so naturally the company migrated to our house as well. It was great (most of the time). The cast of characters that came through taught me a lot about life, love, and tomatoes for breakfast with pepper on top.

Grandma’s sister, Aunt Azalee, always brought kids in tow. The guy, Tony, had a mean streak but didn’t bother me much. The girl, Peggy Sue, could also be mean but usually not to me unless her cousin was also staying that trip. Then they ganged up on me and made my life miserable for the duration of their visit. The best part about their visits was Uncle Porter. We’d take walks around Grandma’s yard and up around the garden. And we’d pick blackberries or grapes together.

Aunt Azalee was the one who taught me to eat tomatoes for breakfast and she put lots of black pepper on top. Nothing better than biscuit, gravy, eggs, bacon and tomatoes to get your day started. Yum….

There were loads of good-looking guys who came and went during the summers. I tried not to fall in love with my blood relations but sometimes the like was really strong. I guess Lynn was one of the first. Lynn was Vernon’s son. He had been brought up the old Southern way where men treat women like the jewels that they are. He was the most polite of my cousins, always helpful even without being asked. Vernon was a good-looking man and Lynn inherited his good looks. Yep, Lynn was a family favorite, which made it so devastating when he was in the car wreck. He didn’t survive. Proof once again that the good die young.

Then there was Kim. Kim was charming like Lynn but with an edge and much more humor. Where I put Lynn up on some sort of a pedestal Kim was right down there with me. Both of these guys were older than me but to have such great guys pay attention to me fed my ego to no end. I was spoiled and loving it.

Oh I can’t leave this topic without mentioning Craig. Now Craig actually wasn’t my cousin. He was my cousin’s cousin on their other side so we didn’t share a blood link. Therefore I totally fell in love with Craig, mooney eyed and the hole nine yards. I don’t think I did anything to embarrass myself while he was here but I sure did a lot of daydreaming about him when he wasn’t. And you can believe I looked forward to seeing him come around again.

What is funny is that a lot of the girl cousins felt about my brother the way I felt about all the guy cousins. My brother was (is) a handsome guy and he was not only handsome but also cool. At one point he had this little MG Midget, which was a tiny sports car with a drop top, and no back seat. What is cooler than that? He also got the best hair in the family. And truth is he was just plain fun to be around.

Enough of the love part now on to the lessons I learned from this parade of quirky individuals.

Think young.
Read. It makes you more interesting to talk to.
Family is everything. Keep it together.
If you burn the beans, that’s gonna be somebody’s favorite thing to eat.
Snuff tastes awful.
Don’t dare somebody to fight if you think you can’t win.
It hurts when you are bitten on the arm.
Cartwheels on green grass are fun.
Drugs get you in trouble and hurt others. Don’t do them.
Work as hard as you have to to support your family. That’s your responsibility.
If you hide a sex magazine, kids are gonna find it.
It’s not usually a good idea to put 3 kids over the age of 6 in a baby bed, even if it does make a great tent.
Catching crawfish is a little scary if you are a prissy girl.
It’s boring to talk to someone who either knows it all or has a negative attitude.

But I guess the best thing is Laugh. Laughter relieves stress, feeds the soul and is contagious. Laugh often, laugh till it hurts, laugh till you cry. Laugh with others and at yourself. And when you are done laughing get a big ‘ole glass of sweet tea, pull a chair up under the mimosa tree and chat with the cousins till it’s so dark you can’t see each other any longer.

Oh yeah….Good times…..