I am from corduroy pants worn under skirts. I am from Hershey’s home-made hot chocolate on a cool winter morning, and from chasing lightning bugs as dusk fell on a warm summer night.
I am from the small white and brick house in a neighborhood of other small white houses and stand alone garages that held all kinds of treasure. From push mowers humming in the summer and the smell of fresh-cut grass.
I am from the blue flowered Thrift as it climbed down the side of a river rock wall and from pink blossomed Mimosa Trees from which I could see all of my small world.
I am from large Thanksgiving dinners when my cousins Sandra and Karen and I put on holiday plays about the first
Thanksgiving, while our loving Williams and Campbell families watched and tried to hide their giggles!
I am from a family that is short of patience and long on discipline but full of love and happiness.
I am from “Beauty is as beauty does” and “people who brag really have nothing to brag about”
I am from the Baptist church down the road where the fear of God was felt in every corner and in every pew. Where good old gospel songs were sung on a regular basis and every Wednesday night was a covered dish supper with a big helping of love and happiness served on every plate.
I am from Tennessee with a little of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia thrown in for good measure, from home-made biscuits that my grandmother let me cut out with a bottle cap, to hot black coffee served in a metal cup.
I am from the stories of my great-grandmother and great-aunts, that lived in the Blue Ridge Mountains, having to fight off panthers while trying to make their way home after buying flour and supplies, and of my great-great-grandfather, trying to hide his Native American ancestry so he could fight in the Civil War.
I am from the family bible on the coffee table full of births, deaths and handprints made in grade school, things that meant more than money to me and my family…our lives in black in white.
I am the laughter, love and sharing that comes from a small southern family, I am a stubborn, and strong Southern Lady, and of that I am extremely proud!
This is a writing exercise. You can check this and more out at the following link: http://www.mamakatslosinit.com/
