SOUTHERN FRIED THURSDAY

Recently, I have been thinking about certain loved ones I have lost.  Maybe it is the time of year...maybe the season of Winter...maybe the cold.  They are not sad thoughts, more like warm, nostalgic, comforting thoughts. 

I remember my Mema (my Dad's mom).  She was so sweet and loving.  Her birthday was in February like mine.  That made us close.  We were both Aquarius.  She used to call me Laura Leesie.  She never learned to drive, so when I visited her on Yancy Avenue in Montgomery during the summers, we walked everywhere or got a ride.  I used to love walking to McDonald's with her and eating.  Then we would go to the Piggly Wiggly where Aunt Louise was a manager.  We would buy a few groceries and then head back home.  She was 90 years old when she past.  Rachel was 6 months old.  I do have pictures of her holding Rachel.  They mean so much.

I remember my Uncle Tommy (Dad's only sibling).  I remember how he laughed.  It was kind of like Roscoe P. Coaltrain on the Dukes of Hazard.  Kind of like "Keek, Keek, Keek."  I loved spending time with him and Aunt Gloria.  They always had a pool everywhere they lived.  I loved hearing Uncle Tommy refer to my Dad as "Billy."  Dad wasn't Billy, Billy was Billy.  Dad was Bill or W.I.  But, to my Uncle Tommy, Dad was always his little brother Billy.

I remember my Aunt Lala (Laura - my namesake) and Uncle Tynes.  She was my Mother's Aunt.  She and Uncle Tynes never had any children, so they would spoil us to death when we visited.  They always had Labs (dogs).  That is where we got Duke and then Pink Floyd.  Uncle Tynes would train his dogs to do the most amazing tricks.  I have never personally known any dog that could do the stuff they did.  One time, before I was born, they even had cats that would use the toilet, not the litter box.  I guess their animals were like their kids.  Aunt Lala loved my mother and me very much.  When she past, she made sure to remember us.  She wanted me to have her engagement and wedding ring.  The set is antique and beautiful, and I treasure it with all my heart.

These three loved ones I have been thinking of quite a lot lately.  As I said, not sad thoughts, but comforting, secure thoughts.  Maybe it is because they are somewhere thinking of me.  Watching over me and protecting me and mine.  Yeah, that is what it is.