No matter what else life deals you, FAMILY is what GOD gives you!

We all have our genetically linked families, whether or not we're raised together; but I was one of the fortunate ones that grew up in a small, but close family. My paternal grandmother was really young when she married my grandfather. Their children are the only blood relatives on my Dad's side, that we grew up knowing.
As you can see in this photo, my grandma was a beautiful woman, with strong physical characteristics. My Dad and his sister favored her a lot. It was unfortunate that my "PawPaw Jimmy' passed away at a very young age, and he only got to 'meet' three of his grandchildren. My Mom was pregnant with my brother when he died.
As I'd said in the first so-called blog (mini-book) I'd written, we grew up in Kenner. This next photo shows my brother Glen pulling me in a wagon. Pardon my 'flashing' you guys, but apparently the kids in our neighborhood all went shirtless! HA! As odd as it is, my strongest memories come from that little neighborhood, in that little house where Glen and I slept in bunk beds. When I have dreams, they're usually about Kenner! Maybe because that was the time when we all lived within a few blocks of each other, and yes, times were just different!
But my maternal grandparents maintained nearly 100 homesteaded acres in the 'village' of Folsom, nearly 60 miles north of New Orleans. (By the way, Kenner is where the major airport for New Orleans is located). So, we'd jumped from a very urban environment to a world of rural bliss (to me, at least). It took my brother quite a while to adjust. I, on the other hand, disappeared for hours in the woods! Mom would have to honk the horn to get me to come in~for we had mini-bikes, and friends from 'the city' would come visit every weekend and we'd rake straw and make play houses, pretend to be cavepeople with the old bull skulls (YUK, huh?)...and I took pictures, as though directing my own little 'movie'!
     AND, 23 scrapbooks later, I'm still taking photos, but our world's gone digital, and it's SO much easier! From listening to SO many stories after Hurricane Katrina, from people who'd lost everything, the pictures were the one thing that couldn't be replaced~especially to those who were already widowed, or had become widowed from the hurricane's ravages. They all wished they'd stored their photos onto CD's~!

As with anyone else, I could write a book, really should do so for my daughters. When 'those in charge' change our days to have 48 instead of only 24 hours, maybe then I'll have time! We all have a heritage, lineage, that needs to be told, so that the truths of our families don't disappear.
This is my paternal grandma in the photo with my brother and I.  She's gone, too; yet her mother lived to be 97!  So, I have longevity on both sides.                                                                                                All I have left is my maternal grandmother, who will be 94 in April! Isn't that incredible? My wonderful Mom takes her back and forth between her house, and my parents'. She sits with her during the day (because my Aunt and I work); and we take turns on certain nights to stay with her at her house. Then she comes to my parents' for the weekends.

This is the photo of the house my maternal grandfather was born in! My 93 year old grandma still lives here. Of course, it's been refurbished a few times~ especially after a pecan tree fell on one side of it during the numerous tornadoes of Hurricane Katrina. Just knowing that we've had generation after generation on this land, and in that house~well, that means more to me than ANY amount of money.
My mother is the best at recording (by hand, in separate folders) the genealogy of our families. Oh, I was always 'curious', but too busy with my own life, to worry with that. I had been told I may never be able to conceive, so my whole 'outlook on life' changed. I wouldn't allow myself to get 'too close', feeling that most men would want children of their own. Yes, it may sound 'odd' to have looked at life that way, but I truly felt like less of a woman!

Well, GOD had something to show me! I guess I'd raised all of my 'friends', so HE Blessed me late in life with my own two little Angels. Although the circumstances aren't the fairytale ' happily ever after' every little girl dreams of; I'd be so very lonely and lost without my girls! They are who I live for! I can see the genetic characteristics IN them, each day. The self-conscious vanity I used to have went out the window, when that gorgeous, fat, blue-eyed beauty turned her head toward me once she heard my voice~all amidst the chaos of family surrounding me after delivery! As far as I was concerned, it was just Gabrielle and I in that room. My life was complete, and nothing else mattered!

And just when I thought I was getting it all together, my childhood sweetheart decided to 'return' and catch me off guard. We finally got married (considering I have his ID bracelet from 7th grade); and then came my precious little Bekah Lynn~whom we'd named 'Joshua Scott' until that ultrasound didn't show what was needed to BE a Joshua! And Gabrielle rubbed my belly and said, "Dat's my Bekah Lynn"! And now they're 8 and 6~ in the blink of an eye~as I'd been told by so many, my babies are 'little ladies'.
So, in these times of 'recesssion'~something MY generation has never faced~when you sit down and count your Blessings instead of counting 'what I want', be grateful for your 'FAMILY', be certain to TELL them how much you LOVE them (even if you think you don't like them) , because this is the time of year to be THANKFUL! I've seen many a young person die this year, crazy 'accidents', misdiagnosed medical conditions....please,  for a time, forget the 'material' things, and just HUG YOUR FAMILY...for no one is promised tomorrow!