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“LOVE” RULES
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We planned a trip to South Carolina for our first Thanksgiving together to attend a huge family reunion. Peggy was so excited for me to meet the family– especially the amazing Aunt Bappy. I looked forward to it, but prepared myself to not get my hopes up too high. Nobody is that nice. Her reputation, I assumed, was as much legend as fact.
I always rolled my eyes when I heard my parents and grandparents talk about the “good ole days.” They talked fondly about having to use outhouses in the freezing cold, and walking three miles to school every morning. What’s up with that? It’s like the grass was always greener during the Great Depression. Whew! That was way before air conditioning. No, thank you. But now that I am a parent and grandparent, I find myself doing the same thing, especially when I get together with my siblings and cousins. How we idolize those magical days of our past! Maybe the reason the good ole days are so nostalgic to us is because we are only able to touch them again in our memories.
I say I miss those days, but when I think about it, they weren’t all so wonderful– at least not when I lived them the first time. Good ole days are always better re-lived that first lived. When nostalgia hits me, my mind especially takes me back to those birthdays and big days we spent at Mama Sims’ house. There were two birthdays that were more important to us than those belonging to Washington or Lincoln– Mama Sims’ birthday, and Little Grandmaw’s birthday.
Obviously, it was supposed to say “curb market,” which is an open air fresh fruit and vegetable stand, common throughout the South. At curb markets, we could buy fresh produce by the box or by the item, cash only. It was a quick, happy way to usher those fresh grown veggies into the kitchen– especially for Ashlanders who didn’t have time to work their own gardens.