IN MEMORY-Part 1 of My Melancholy State and More of My Treasures

My mamaw, Clara Mae, passed away 3 years ago today. She was the most instrumental person in leading me to Christ. She lived her life for the Lord! I can honestly say that her funeral was one where I truly felt joy. It was a joyous occasion. I was sad, because I was going to miss her; and I still do miss her a lot. But I knew where she was going, and I knew that she had lived her whole life to get there. Mamaw always took me to church when I visited her, and we always went to church when she visited us (and pretended like we went every week which I'm quite certain she knew to be untrue). Anytime I had a question about something in our society, our world, our lives; and I couldn't find an answer on my own....I would call her. She would almost always lead me directly to scripture in The Bible. Sure there were times when she couldn't give me a yes or no answer, but she gave me her thoughts and why her thoughts were as such which were always linked back to our God. My mamaw was a deeply religious person with a quick wit and a strong will. I cherished spending summers with her and Papaw on their cotton farm in West Texas. I LOVED the fact they lived in the modest house that my grandfather built with his own hands, and that we ate food we got straight from the garden. I enjoyed the fact that they had just enough stuff and didn't want or need a lot. I enjoyed going with her to her garden club meetings, bowling with her lady friends and to the beauty shop every Friday to get her hair done....I told you I have an old soul. I loved walking down to the railroad tracks and putting a penny on...only to go back the next day to see how flat it had gotten. I loved sleeping with her at night and having her tell me all sorts of nursery rhymes. I loved playing with her felt Bible stories that she used when she taught Sunday School. I loved making homemade peaches and cream with the fresh picked peaches. I loved that we hung the clothes out on the clothesline to dry. I loved helping her with her vegetable garden, her flower garden and her rock garden. And let me tell you...her gardens were something to be admired, especially her rock garden. We would go on long walks and collect all sorts of rocks, then bring them home and carefully arrange them in her large and beautiful rock garden. I always liked finding the rocks that I had contributed, to the garden, when I would visit.
Mamaw is one of the reasons that I am thrifty and really enjoy making something out of other people's junk. She was very frugal....she lived through the depression, so there was nothing to waste. At mealtime, she served only enough food for you to have one small spoonful of each item served. When NPayne and I married and would visit her, we would secretly have to stop at the ONLY hamburger joint in town to get him a burger before dinner; otherwise he would be starving (not literally of course). When I was cleaning out her house, I came across so many treasures....her old vanity set that I had always admired and loved, her Bible, some of her really sweet and vintage dishes, her little wooden pew and podium set, and many other things. One of the things that I treasure the most is finding the notes of encouragement, complete with scripture, that she had written to herself. They were tucked into her Bible. I found many other poems and prayers and letters that were written in her handwriting. I kept every single one, and I will treasure them as long as I am living. I also discovered where my sentimentality comes from. If you read my previous post: Sentimental, Absolutely....Sympathetic, Not So Much! then you know that I am extremely sentimental; and I have kept every card I have ever received. As I was cleaning out her house, I found every single card that I had ever made for her or bought for her. I found every single school picture or drawing that had been given to her. At that moment, I realized I was a lot like her. It made me smile and cry to know that many of her treasures that were given to her or made for her or written for her were by her grandchildren and great grandchildren. I am sad that my children won't get to know her and experience her and life on the farm as I did. Those experiences shaped me as a person, and I treasured spending time with my grandmother. I hope that my grandchildren will enjoy and experience the same treasures with me.