Pippi loves to go in my bedroom with me and climb up on the bed, getting set for "Goo Time". We observe several rituals during our time. One being we are alone. Everyone else is in another room, including Tommy. Another is a Me Maw Story.
Me Maw was my grandmother. When I was Pippi's age, Me Maw was probably about the age I am now. She babysat me while my mother worked. Being the fifth child of six, I loved the one on one time with Me Maw. We would wash dishes together, pick berries, shell peas, go to the grocery store, go to church meetings, go visit the church shut ins and bring them goodies. We were always busy.
Pippi always likes to hear the stories of our heritage being told. So as we settle back on the bed and hold hands, the story begins.
"Pippi, when I was your age, I spent a lot of time with Me Maw. She let me spend the night quite often. Every night before we climbed into bed, she would kneel down beside her bed and I would join her. Talking to God one last time before we went to sleep was very important to her. When we crawled into the bed, I would lay in the bed beside her like we are doing now and we would hold hands. I would listen to her breathing and listen to it change into a slow and slightly snoring sound. It was so comforting to have Me Maw beside me as I slept."
Pippi snuggles closer and smiles and asks for yet another story.
"One day, my brother, Chip and I were playing outside. Me Maw was inside washing dishes. She could see everything we were doing at all times. Chip was about one year old and I was four, like you are now. Me Maw had a little blue tricycle and it sat in the driveway that day. Chip and I both wanted to ride it and we ended up screaming at each other while holding onto the handlebars of the tricycle. Screams of "Mine! Mine!" were flying through the air as the tricycle looked like a wishbone between us, first going this way and then that. Me Maw told us to stop, but we did not. Me Maw appeared at the door and said, "I told you to stop! Now come here!" Her blue slipper came out of no where and I could feel it on my legs. Oh, how I cried. I do not remember it hurting too badly, but I was so hurt that I had made Me Maw upset enough to spank me. After that, I watched very carefully for the blue slipper and tried to do everything she told me to do."
"Another one Goo!" Pippi exclaims.
"Me Maw was a very good cook. We would pick fresh vegetables from the garden that Paw Paw and she tended. Snapping beans with her made me feel grown up. It was an important job and I felt special because I was allowed to participate. My favorite beans to help her shell were the speckled butter beans. They were covered with purple splotches. They were easy to shell and they tasted nice and buttery, like their name. I liked everything Me Maw cooked, except okra. Me Maw would cook the most wonderful round steak and gravy and rice, butter beans, and guess what else. OKRA!!!! Oh no! I would sit and look at that nasty vegetable. What was I going to do?
Well, Chip was sitting right next to me and he loved okra. I whispered, "Chip, please take my okra?"
In a very loud voice, Chip would say, "No June, I do not want your okra."
Then Me Maw would say, "June! I already told you to eat your okra."
"So I was faced with having to put the slimy, icky tasting okra in my mouth. It was so hard to swallow. I would gasp, and gulp and make all kinds of horrid faces while trying to swallow. It would finally go down and I was so relieved there was no more to eat. Funny though Pippi, okra is one of my favorite vegetables today. "
Pippi laughs and shares how much she likes okra. Her favorite way to eat it is right out of the garden. She likes the okra story.
There are so many stories that I have shared with Pippi during "Goo Time". She has grown to have her favorite Me Maw stories. Although Me Maw went to be with Jesus before Pippi was old enough to have memories of her, the passing of the family heritage through oral accounts has proven entertaining and informative to my little listener.
