Listening to My Inner Child...

One of my fondest memories is the summers I spent as a little boy helping my grandmother Bernice tend her garden. We would pick lots of carrots, beets, parsnips, and potatoes. My job was always to wash off all the dirt and make them nice and clean. She would show me how to pick the ripe tomatoes and leave the ones that needed a day or two longer on the vine. We picked baskets and baskets of peaches which she would can and store in the storm shelter. She always had the best garden in the neighborhood. I miss those days. 

I wonder what she would say to me these days. What words of wisdom would she impart on how to mend my broken heart? Would she have me tenderly wash the dirt away? Would she tell me to leave it on the vine a couple of more days, it isn't quite ripe yet? Whatever she would say, it would be just the right thing. 

She left this world all too soon. I know her spirit is with me and always has been. That is why I write this today. I wish everyone could have met my grandma Bernice. She was the strongest person I have ever known. And I know that is why I have turned out to be the person I am today. 

It took 38 years to start discovering the true me. But I wouldn't have it any other way. The lessons I have learned through my life experiences have shaped my soul. The pain and sense of loss that I am going through will eventually pass. And again, it will add to my life and make me that much stronger of a person.

Wherever you are mamaw, I will make you proud.

I miss you EVERY day...there is not one day that has gone by since August 22, 1985 that I haven't thought about you. I love you. Travis