Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Way Back Wednesday
Mema has always meant love to me. Mema was loving and caring. I always felt a strong closeness with her. I've probably kissed her more than anyone in my life. I've got so many memories of her. I spent the night with my Mema and Papa every Friday night from the time I was about 2 until I was 18. She always cooked my favorite every Friday, Spaghetti. I remember as a young kid, watching Grand ole Oprey, and she would get up and start square dancing with me when they would square dance, then as Sherry and Dena got older they came and spent the night also. The square dancing grew to us all 4 dancing with her. She always had a big influence on me and was big presence in my life. I sure miss her, she always had pencil and paper ready for me every Friday night for me to draw on, and afterwards I'd tell her a story with my pictures. She helped with my imagination. I can still see her hiding behind a smile, she did that, if she smiled, she didn't want anyone to see, so she would cover her smile with a hand. She still lives in my heart and mind, and I think about her almost every day. She died a few years ago, and was the last grandparent I lost. If I ever want to cheer myself up on a Friday night I start cooking spaghetti sauce, just the smell of it makes me smile. My mema was born a twin on Aug 18, 1914 of Jacob Edwin Joiner and Efes Griffin. They were number 9 and 10 of eleven children. My mema was Eloise Eula Joiner and her twin was Louise Beaula Joiner. At three years old their mother got pneumonia and died with eleven chileren the oldest being 17, the youngest being less than a year old. The say it was one of the saddest funerals of the time, and a big rainstorm came. At the time my Mema's mother's sister also lived with the family, and a few years later her father married her aunt Cleva Griffin, and they had six more children. Mema came from quite a large family, and it was mostly girls 12 girls in fact. Mema went with her sister Olive to the picture show and dancing afterwards and was seen by my Papa, was it love at first sight, it must have been. Could you imagine meeting someone's family when it was a family of seventeen siblings. That must have been some meeting. They married July 3, 1936. Two children were born to them, my dad and Aunt Daphne.
I went home to see my Mema the week before she passed away. She told me how much she loved me like she always did when I left, and I spent three good days with her. She got a cold and passed away three days after getting the cold due to heart complications. I didn't make it home before she passed away.
I've told this story before about after my Mema died, a day after there was a bird that kept singing and tapping at the window, that night I dreamed it was my Mema and she was telling me she wanted us to come to the window so she could see us. Later the same week a bird flew in my chimney and into my house, I had been having a hard time because I felt like I didn't get to say goodbye to her. Well this bird flew in and I laughed and called it Mema, then I got scared the bird was going to hurt itself flying around in the house, so I opened the front door and walked out of the room. Came back and the bird was gone. So I lay on my bed and thought about Mema, and as I almost fell asleep I looked up and on my dresser the bird just sat looking at me. I stood up walked to the bird, it didn’t flinch, I grabbed the bird and walked to the front door opened it and let the bird fly, and as it flew away I said "Goodbye Mema". I felt much better after that, and a few cries here and there. But I got to say goodbye.
