Over the river and through the woods.....

After picking up Chapel and Eli from Vacation Bible School we drove to Conway to visit my sweet Granny. When school would end, I would spend most of my summer at my grandparents house, who for their whole lives were honest, hardworking farmers. I have memories of my parents stringing and hanging tobacco every Saturday and going to the warehouse auctions with my granddad. I remember everyone's diligence and how hard they worked in the heat, the bugs, the humidity. Farm life is hard life.  Every summer I shelled beans, shucked corn, dug up potatoes from the mud, watched granny can tomatoes and pickle cucumbers. I remember at the time I found these chores monotonous and sometimes felt they got in the way of me being able to do more fun things, like play babies with my cousins or ride my bike. In fact, somedays we had to shell so many butter beans I think I ended up with blisters! Looking back, I realize how much I learned about family ties, hardwork and the importance of a strong work ethic. Today, my grandaddy has passed on and granny isn't in the best health but she is still the same sweet lady who cooked and cleaned for us everyday, who took us to town on Friday to buy the groceries, who never sat down to rest and rarely complained. As I have gotten older, granny has been a doting great-grandmother. She spoils my kids rotten - they expect jelly beans and marshmallows upon arrival and she NEVER disappoints. There are many times that I wish my kids could have the same experiences I had as kid. They will probably never know what living in the country is really like. Or digging potatoes or what the smell of tobacco curing is like. But they will remember the same granny I remember and to me, that memory is the most precious.