Monday, December 12, 2011

Those I Miss!

With Christmas coming quickly, I've been thinking a lot about my Granny Jackie and Papa Kelley. They have passed on, but I can remember exactly how I felt having Christmas for the first time without them. It's heartbreaking and sad, and would love nothing more but for them to be here.
      Granny Jackie was a lady I looked up too. She was strong willed and she was one of my best friends. She was the one who after I was born took my sleeper off to make sure I had the "Gockley" toes. She always "believed" me when I said I was starving because my momma never fed me, and sat me down in the middle of the table with a tub of butter! (yuck!!! I hope I didn't eat a lot of it!) Lol. Her house was always clean and she always had a candy dish on the coffee table with our favorite candy in it. She would always fuss with Papa Robert and never let him forget that he was an awful snorer. Granny loved to fish! Loved to fish! You could pretty much guarantee she was fishing if she wasn't home. Most of my childhood memories are with her and Papa in St. Augstine fishing. They had a house boat, and every other weekend, I was on that boat with them fishing the days away. We would sit out on the dock for hours just fishing. I remember trying to catch the little bitty crabs, and I even caught a blow fish one time. I can remember walking up to the showers about dusk every afternoon to get ready for bed. On the way to the boat, we would always stop at this one particular store and get the few groceries we would need, and a gallon of tea. It was the best tea, I ever had. On the way home, we always stopped at the ice cream shop and would get pistachio ice cream. I remember it being such a pretty green color. Lol. Those were the best times! When we weren't fishing together, you could find us on Granny's bed watching tv doing word circles. She always had a ton of those books, and would always give me one to do with her. She had tons of shoes, jewelry and was very set and particular in her ways. She loved us grand kids, and I could always count on her. She loved her out door swing where she would sit and do more word circles.  She was hot headed at times, but very loving, and she taught me a lot of things. I miss that woman more than I can say. I wish she had been here to see me graduate and get married. I wish she was here to spoil Maddison rotten and watch her grow just like she did me. Sometimes I just wish I could go to her house to find her laying on the bed to just get away and enjoy some quiet time with her. She was grounded and strong and I hope that I have many of wonderful qualities.
      Papa Kelley, was the Papa with all the animals when we were growing up. I mostly remember helping him feed and tend to the rabbits! He had tons of them! He was very patient, he hardly got frustrated, and always gave us what we wanted. He would take us to the store and tell us, get what you want, and would never think twice about it. I remember when we spent on weekend with him when Anthony was real little. I heard Papa tell my mom that Anthony was good as gold....but when we got in the car, I was like momma, Anthony did nothing but cry the entire weekend! Lol. I will never forget the smell of the certain cigarettes that he smoke or going shopping for food at Hitchcocks on the way to his house. He never made us buy the "good" food, but would let us have cookies for breakfast if that's what we wanted. I'll never forget that little green truck he drove, and every time I see one like his, I automatically think of him. He was always there for me. He would help me in whatever way he would, and would give me whatever I needed. I didn't like when he moved to Tenn for the time, he was too far away, and I missed him a lot. Thankfully he moved back! :) I'm thankful that he was at my wedding and that he was here to meet Maddison. There's a picture I have, the last one that I took of Papa and Maddison together, and it is one of my many treasures. I love that picture, and I'm so glad I will have it for years to come. He was a great man, someone who was humorous and laughed at most things. Someone who got along with my Grandmother, even though they were divorced, and someone who changed my life.
  Both of these people are dearly missed. I would love for both of them to be here now and for Christmas, I would love for them to be in home, to be a part of my ever growing family, but the memories that we made when they were here, keep them alive, and I'm thankful and I'm lucky to have had such great grandparents like them. Our Christmases will never be the same without them.

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