Subtitled “If I Had More Energy I’d Be Having a Minor Freakout over How Much I Have Left To Do” aka “Nothing Ever Goes As Planned”…
I went to Bonham yesterday (an approximate 90-minute drive, barring traffic of course!) on my pilgrimage to my aunt & uncle’s house. Deep Thoughts along the way: my mom always had deep insecurity/resentments concerning her in-laws, some of which were well-founded, but many were not! Everyone else was able to laugh off the anecdote of their pastor telling my mom (age 19) that, not being a born-again member of their fundamentalist sect, she was “leading George straight to hell”, but Mom could never forgive nor forget. (No doubt that led to my dad giving up on organized religion). There were many other real & perceived slights throughout the years, but my dad loved his sisters, nieces & nephews & the rest of his extended family and Mom had no legitimate excuse for keeping us away from the big family Thanksgiving reunion, which my aunt & uncle began hosting when I was a teenager (they had the biggest house!) right up until 2018.
My uncle owned the grocery store in Bonham; his children did not appreciate being pressed into servitude there! I’m surprised Ann kept this photo of Rick & Uncle Willie: (must’ve been late 1960’s, making Rick 17 or 18)
Loved the blog!!! I;m always freaking out over what I have left to do. Not enough days/years/decades/strength to get it all done.
ReplyDeleteIn-laws are the other people in the marital bed. You have to learn to sleep with them. LOL. My first MIL was a really nice lady. She did not want me marrying her son and let it be known. We were too young to get married. I was a naive 18 year old and he was a Vietnam Vet and alcoholic. He was the first of her 6 kids to marry. After some of the other kids married she confided in me that she never really appreciated who I was until she experienced the new in-laws who were more than challenging. By then I knew she was right and admitted as much. By then she wanted our marriage to work as I was good for my ex. He was not good for me. Most of my family didn't care much for my ex. Mom learned to care about it. My dad was an atheist until my step mom was dying, my mom was a non-church going southern Baptist, and my ex was not much of anything so no problems there. Benny's mom was a saint practically, we were both Baptists, his mom and my maternal grandma both Sunday school teachers for over 40 years. Benny and I both became very disillusioned with formal religion. Not with our faith but with the people thinking they own God.
So many kids were pushed into the "family work farm" back when we were kids. I would have loved it being a grocery store rather than the work I had to do.
OMG. Throw everything else you have out and make room for those dishes! I LOVE those dishes. They are so me. Loved the photo too.
Also loved the parade pictures.
Take your picks & I will gladly ship the porcelain pieces to you (seriously!) My aunt spent a lot of time & effort on her craft, and I would love for them to go to someone who would appreciate em
DeleteThough I would dearly love to accept your generous offer I would feel like I was robbing Zach and Victoria. They are just kids now but at some point their taste most likely will change like mine did and they will see the beauty in things like this. I was a minimalist. Had horrendous taste. This minimalist gray period where everything is black and white or beige will come to an end. Color will come back. Beauty will come back. And I think Victoria will embrace it. Just a feeling but I was a decorator for a while before I became a nurse. And what is the chance that these would make it to Illinois in one piece. LOL.
DeleteLove the bareback decorated Molly! How festive!
ReplyDeleteI'm like you... no place to display stuff, and don't really care to take care of it... no more breakables for me! Ember is enough of a destructo-machine (labs, ya know?)... that she's helping me remember I was down-sizing, not collecting more!
Deep thoughts are the risk of being "of a certain age" and of departures of loved ones.
Your dishes remind me of the things my mother collected. Cups and saucers. Plates. Cream pitchers. I have no clue of their value and my brother took them for a future Ebay sell. It never happened and they are still in a box, except for a few plates that now reside on his kitchen walls where they should be. They look great and it surprised me as he and Mom never got along. I guess he has a heart after all.
ReplyDeleteI love the 4th photos.