Too many memories

Hello. I'm Lena. Or Rachel. Or Lena Rae. Take your pick. I don't know where she came up with Rachel. But it stuck.

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I have a slight scar down the bridge of my nose. I was about three years old. She took me to visit someone in Arkansas - there's a picture of her holding me with my bo-bo nose in front of the tower in Hot Springs. The people we were visiting had dogs and I was pretending to be a dog sniffing the floor. I missed the concept and ended up rubbing my nose on the floor. Carpet burn on my nose.

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She was adament about no beverage refills during our meals. My theory is that we shouldn't fill up on drinks and waste the food. To this day, I cannot finish my glass before I finish my plate.

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Impromptu trips just out of the blue. Arkansas, Cleveland, a loop through Louisiana. I remember waking up on several occasions at her house with the first question of the day... "Do you want to go to...?"

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Nearly every weekend was spent there. Staying up late at night watching cable tv - because we didn't have that at home. The back porch full of metal drums of toys, god save you if one fell over on you. The time she found her cosmetology liscense. All the photos and candles. She knew we were always going to run to her so she bought us all toothbrushes, carved our names into them and hung them over her bathroom sink. Her house is the first memory I have of playing Teacher. Digging in all the old trinkets and treasures. For all I know, my first memory of snow and my pink and white Mini Mouse leg warmers.

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I drove the boat of a 77 gold Thunderbird when I was getting my driver's liscense.
Sitting in one of the cars when I was five listening to old country music.

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She took me to eat breakfast somewhere at the buttcrack of dawn. I remember very well the triangle toast with grape jelly and loving it so much.

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And the food. Boy could she cook. She made breakfast every Tuesday morning for our youth group before school. Bacon, eggs, sausage, biscuts from scratch. Some major holidays were spent at her large dinner table with barely any space for our plates.

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She was always giving. If there was something we needed or wanted, she got it for you. School clothes, school supplies, letterman jacket, repairs for a broken instrument. She also made sure I went to youth camp in NC.

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SPLASH. We all wanted our hair crimped and to be mermaids. So our moms crimped our hair and we played in the wading pools trying to not get our hair wet. This was some get-together.

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Many vacations spent with her. Especially to the beach. I was burried in sand on the beach with a mermaid tail. She came and camped out on the beach with us several times too.

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I was 5 when our house burned down. She took me and my family in until my parents could get back on their feet. I remember Christmas day there that year. And her awesome vintage ornaments.

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Making a ton of valentines cards and handing them out at nursing homes. Making Christmas ornaments.

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Seriously, we all refer to her as our second mom. She basically helped raise me. All of us, really. Her neices and nephews - and to those fortunate, our children. Even though I've moved away, Ivy got to know her. I wish she could've had similar times with her that I did.

We all have similar stories. Similar memories. Similar lessons learned. To love. To be kind. To be good people. To be giving. So many memories. That's all we can take with us.