Blog Land was an unusually sad place yesterday. I read several posts that brought me to tears. Most of them about children. Children growing up. Adult children moving away. Children starting school and the death of summer. And one grieving mama visiting her baby's grave for the first time.
And my day ended on a personally sad note because my mom told me that my great-aunt WillaNell died today. Today my mom, my aunt and I will go up to Cleveland, Tennessee for the funeral. I wish instead that we were going up to eat Aunt WillaNell's coconut macaroons and to wash them down with iced milk (Coca Cola for her - I don't think she ever drank anything but Coke and coffee) and to sit with her and look through her old photo albums and to hear her tell funny stories about her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
She was Southern Hospitality personified. She had a way of making you feel like you saw each other every week even though it had been years in between visits. It didn't matter if you had seconds at the dinner table; to her you hadn't eaten enough. "Here! Take some home with you!" Then she'd wrap up something in aluminum foil and, as you were leaving, she'd tell you to be careful making that left turn out of the parking lot of her apartment.
Thinking about what she was like and knowing I'll see her again makes me happy and hopeful.
And that's how I want to feel today.
