Guest Blogger

This is a for real guest blogger...my Aunt Anita.  She lives in Oregon.  I'll fill you in on more later, but this is her post...

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Catherine asked if I would write something for this blog. It has been hard to decide what to write, there are so many choices - that is because I'm OLD now. First I need to say how I am feeling so much grief for what Catherine, Adam and Hayden are presently going through. I also want to say how proud she makes me feel and how I am in awe of her faith, strength and courage. That, I know, she didn't have in mind for my contribution.

Now what to write: I decided to write about my great family when I was growing up in Ridgeland. There was Daddy; Mama; Domma (Mama's mother); my sister, Elise, 7 years older (we fought like cats); me; and Jeff, 7 years younger than I. Oh, I forgot to mention Suzie, or it could have been Susie, she didn't care. Which reminds me, Mama said you could spell your name anyway you pleased. That is a fact.

Now Mama was about the greatest ever, and I got to spend lots of time alone with her, which was great, but I needed to have a friend so I made one up. Here is where Suzie fits in. I should explain some of the time Suzie was my playmate, sometime she was my little girl, whatever I needed at the time. Now this story is really more about Mama than me or Suzie; so I will get to it. I was probably about 4 years old , and one day Mama needed to go to the Post Office, which was about a 4 block walk. We were about half way there when I stopped suddenly, and told Mama I had forgotten Suzie. She tried to convince me she would be fine until we returned, but I was having none of that. She actually turned around and we walked back home. When we got to our house she said go get her (not real happy). We were in the street, and I told her I couldn't get her because she had locked the door. She just resigned, and walked to the house, unlocked and opened the door. She asked me if Suzie was with us now; I said yes. She murmured something about her being hard to see (which I totally knew), and the three of us headed off once again to the PO.

Now, if you are a parent, ask yourself if you would have done that. I've asked myself that question and my answer is probably not, but that was just a tiny bit of my mother Virginia Battley Adcock. God bless her.

Now of all that family there is only Jeff and I.

Oh, just one more thing, "they" now say children with imaginary friends are really very intelligent!

Anita Beaton