When I was a little girl my grandmother and all of us grandchildren had a tradition. Every summer she would take us all down to Reedville, Virginia to visit my Aunt Ginny. Reedville in and of itself is like a lot of small Southern towns. It has evidence everywhere of once being a booming place, in this case a fishing village, with beautifully built houses in a place called millionaires row that make it obvious that very rich people once lived there.
My Aunt lived back in the sticks. There were houses around but you couldn't see them because of the trees and her place was very private and lucky enough to sometimes have a sand bar that acted as a beach for us.
We would go to the beach and just play. Most of the times I can remember it was My sister, my cousins Kayla, Laura, Dwight, Brian and I. Aunt Ginny had a paddle boat and a giant inner tube and that was all we needed for hours of fun. We all had amazing imaginations. I miss it now.
It is a beautiful place. At first, she just had a trailer and spent most of her time living in Manassas but now she lives there year round, has a double wide that looks like a house with a giant porch on the back so everyone can sit and listen to the water.
I hate to see some things change. While that place will always be beautiful and special, people started buying up the coastline and building giant houses on it. What do you expect when everyone with money has to have a beach house? Can't say I blame them though. Aunt Ginny got sick a few years back and I freaked out so bad that I went down to see her. Nobody else was allowed to come with me but I didn't care. I just hung around. I tried to make sure she was taking care of herself and not out in the yard. Well, she went out in the yard, but I think the fact that she has always kept so active is the reason she is still alive so I couldn't really stop her. I just wasn't ready to lose someone so important to me and I kept thinking this could be the last time I get to talk to her....and I still have so many questions about life.
Aunt Ginny always had this special aire about her. I think she has magical powers what with all of the wisdom she oozes every time I talk to her. When I was little, I thought she was like a fortune teller or something. Her presence makes me feel honored. She seems to understand everything and can read people, kind of like I can. I like to think we have a lot in common with being the oldest siblings. She has 14 brothers and sisters and I have one sister, but the personality similarities are still there. She is the closest to my grandmother as far as I am concerned, even though two of her other sisters, my aunts, live down close to her now. Grandma always used to say to me: "you have to be nice to your sister because she is the only one you've got and someday you are going to need each other"....she was right as I'm starting to see now. I love how close they all are and sometimes wish I had more siblings.
Recently Aunt Ginny said that she needs to meet my fiancee and approve before we run off to Ireland. Yeah..I need to get down there. She kinda does need to meet him or my life won't be complete. I don't know what I would do if I didn't see her again.
My point here is, everyone is getting old...and I'm scared people are going to start dying. Without me. As I mentioned before in my blog, I'm planning on moving to Ireland...what will I do if they all start to leave this earth and I didn't get to see them again? Crazy right? yes and no. I loved my childhood. My parents and grandparents did everything to make sure it was beautiful. My teens I can't say I loved as much, but from 0-12, things were golden. I was surrounded and cradled in love. Brought up all around it, that is why I am so good at it you see? If the people who taught me what love is fall of the face of the earth, I will just be so broken hearted. I'd be okay eventually because I know it's a part of life. Nobody knows that better than my Aunt Ginny's whose husband was taken away from her in a terrible accident many years ago.
So when I think about how upset I'm going to be when that generation of people in my life start to go, I'll remember that they too suffered loss. From what I know, my grandmother's sisters and brothers all had one hell of a go at life....and now it's time for me to take mine.
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