Just been thinking about.... and missing.... my Grandma Nonie. Last week was her birthday and I guess that may have triggered the thought. Well, at least she thought that was her birthday.... she was given away, along with her sister, when she was five years old because her mom was marrying a man that didn't want the girls (but would keep the boy)!!!!!! She was handed from family to family, separated from her sister (she said, she remembered that she cried more when she was separated from her sister, than when she was separated from her mother!) Finally, a policeman heard that she was being used to beg for a blind man and his wife and rescued her. They put her up for adoption and she was adopted by a widow that had a boarding house - Grandma Davenport (as we refer to her) ------- AND that was in the early 1900's!!!--- Can you believe that?!?! She had every excuse to be bitter, hurt and angry --- BUT Grandma Nonie was anything BUT ---- She loved her family, her God and her friends! She was full of laughter and you could feel that in her home. She wasn't a singer by any standard, but I can still hear her as she would sing her favorite song..... "This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Saviour, all the day long...."
Every now and then, I feel an overwhelming feeling to go to Grandma Nonie's house! I want to just jump in the car with my kids and run up to Stockton, turn on to Yosemite Lane off of Harding Way... pull up in that long red driveway.... probably go in the back door... see her as she comes "around the corner" in her house dress... hear her laughter - as she claps her hands together.... sit down and eat tuna and crackers in the breakfast nook ... play a game of Uno or Scrabble... or just talk.... (okay, I better stop, I already have tears in my eyes and that tight feeling in my chest!!!!)... But I know if I go, she won't be there, because she's been gone 14 1/2 years now! Wow... time flies... It's funny, but I still have dreams of Grandma Nonie and I wake up crying. She made such an impact on all that knew her -- especially her kids and grandkids! By the way, she was my great-grandmother and that is an old picture of her, my Papaw Willie (who died when I was almost 5) and my Papaw Jack (the baby) at the top of this post! She was alive when both my kids were born (five generations!). I wish they could have really known her!! She was truly very SPECIAL! When I am a grandmother.... I pray that I can be half the grandma she was!
Here are some more pics! Enjoy!
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