Circus and Sug

You know you haven't posted on your blog lately when you can't even remember your password to login... ugh. Sorry for any of you who actually follow us! Guess we've just been out enjoying the spring. I want to catch up on a couple of events first from the past 6 weeks... we went to the circus with Bibi and Gogo and the cousins (not the babies) and had so much fun. Nucky still talks about the horses and she seems to think that Gogo's horse "Whitey" (who is really my cousin Emily's horse) was one of the magical, fast and sleek horses who galloped thru the coliseum with a scantily clad woman on his back. That's ok... a horse is a horse acc to her. She ran out of steam after about an hour and started rotating laps to sit on. I enjoyed watching her enjoy herself as she stood in the aisle clapping along to something (see above). Thanks, Bibi and Gogo.

A huge blessing of this weekend was that we had planned it weeks in advance - drive to SC for the weekend specifically to go to see the Ringling Brothers et al. Well, as God in His sovereignty would have it, I was able to visit and spend some time with Sug who was in the hospital for various reasons. I am grateful for the few hours of time with her as she died the following Wednesday. I cannot even begin to describe what she meant to me, not to mention what she meant to every person who ever knew her. I have often contemplated "what will it be like when Sug dies?" and thought of how sad I would be ... it has been nothing like that. My memories of her are awash in childlike wonder when I think of all the fun I had with her. I was her buddy and companion for a definite stage in my life and remember going to spend the night with her (1/4 mile down the road), driving with her to Hartsville to visit my aunt while counting tobacco barns to pass the time, playing cards and any game we could find... she helped raise me and taught me things I never realized she was teaching... like the importance of a solid foundation of faith, being able to laugh at yourself, enjoying a hot beverage and even better, an alcoholic one!... this list goes on. She was a character to say the least and absolutely someone to model your life after (and she wouldn't like it that I just ended a sentence with a preposition). I want to start of list of ways I want to be like Sug -- I'll begin to take a stab:

1) look up every word in the dictionary that I hear and don't know

2) laugh often and complain little

3) go every chance I get (whether Europe or just "to town")

4) take extra measures to make every meal just right (breakfast is not breakfast without eggs, toast, HOT coffee and bacon) -- and might I add, no meal is complete without bread nor is it complete without something sweet to "wind up on"

5) remember funny jokes and tell them in any crowd

6) have lots of children (well, I might have to think about this one more)

7) be bold enough to speak my mind and even dress tacky on my 90th bday

... I'll add more later

I'm posting a few shots of her though they aren't the greatest. She would never actually smile for a picture. So annoying.

All this to say, her funeral was a delightful celebration of family and friends truly honoring her life and memory. She had planned 99% of it herself which made me happy to know that every scripture read was from her heart personally and each person who shared was handpicked by her. What a lovely woman! One of the things she would always say, specifically when we would pick on her, was "y'all gonna miss me when I'm gone" -- how right she was!