Memories!!!

I get a call that my 90 year old Godmother is selling her house, now that that she and her 88 year old brother are living together in his house.  This statement within itself just stops me dead in my tracks.  I start thinking about all the times I had spent there and the memories that flood my mind every time I walk into her house.  My Godfather, Papa Sizemore, passed away my senior year in high school, but I can still walk into that house and smell those cherry cigars he smoked.  I can still see him sitting in his chair with that cute little grin on his face.  The call is to tell me to come and get anything I want out of the house, plus the things that she has already put aside for me.  My mind automatically goes to three things I want.  Blue Boy and Pinkie statues, the white ceramic cat that sat on the hearth and a cigar box. 

Blue Boy and Pinkie stood on a table in their house for as long as I can remember.  I remember back as far as 4 years old going there.  These say that they were made in 1973.  They are ceramic.

This cat sat on the hearth of the fireplace.  She made it in 1978.  I was only 7 years old.

One of Papa Sizemore's cigar boxes.

When I think of Papa and Nanny Sizemore's home those three things have always been there. 

When I get to her house, she tells me to look around and take whatever I want.  I feel like a vulture swooping down.  It is awkward to say the least as she is standing there watching me choose and discard her things.  There are many things I want...like the painting she did of an onion crying, the paintings of lemons, strawberries and mushroom she painted when I was just a baby.  I wanted things she had made or that were special to her. 

This was always my favorite painting that she did.  The little onion crying.

Another favorite of mine.

I always thought this should have been in a children's book.  It just seems to have a story that has never been told.

The beautiful strawberries.  All these paintings were painted in the early to mid '70's.

I often wonder if seeing her paintings is what inspired me to take painting classes several years ago.  That was a stretch for me because I can't draw, but I could paint.



This is actually a painting that I did in 2004. I always liked Nanny Sizemore's wall of fruit.  I wonder if that is why I picked this to paint.

 She found me 2 cigar boxes that were Papa Sizemore's, and I promise you that you can still smell the cigars.  There were little trinkets here and there that I took.  Then she brought out my most prized possession that I took home....all her recipes.  I am talking boxes of recipes...hand written.  Some of these recipes were from family members who had left us years ago.  Some were even from my grandmother (my Godmother is my Grandmother's sister).  This is my dad's side of the family, and on that side there are little people.  When we use to have family reunions, I would be mad because these little people would not play with me....I thought they were children.  Anyway, Polly...a little person that I can remember from years past had recipes in this box....this just thrills my soul to have this treasure.

4 boxes full of recipes...lots of handwritten one's.  Recipes from our loved one's that have already gone on.  I plan on laminating some as I did my grandmother's.

  I also took Papa Sizemore's discharge and all Army papers.  They never had kids and she was so sad about where they would end up...so I took them and filed them in our filing cabinet at home. 

I had to stop several times to get myself together as we were going through a life time of memories she had collected.  She told me not to be sad, but she was enjoying seeing what meant the most to me.  After all was gotten, she said that she could have picked almost everything I took all by herself...she called me her sentimental child.  I took Papa Sizemore's valet chair.  It has always sat in their bedroom.  When he was living it always had a coat on something draped on it. I wanted these 3 insulated mugs she had because every time I stayed with them Papa Sizemore would make us a snack and he would always say, "Tracey gets the blue cup." He would pour me some coke and get out the cheese balls.  I would sit at the bar eating and chattering up a storm while he just sat and listened to me like I was the most interesting person in the world.

Then came the time when she had set aside some things for me.  One was her ceramic Christmas tree that she made when I was a baby.  I had always been fascinated with this tree for some reason.  She made it the year I was born.   While it is packed away in a box full of stuffing and shredded paper, I decided to wait until Christmas to share a picture of it. Then there was a February picture and some February angels.  We share the same birth month, and she wanted me to have these.  She turned 50 the year I was born.  I was born on the 8th and she turned 50 on the 15th.  Papa Sizemore passed away on the 14th in 1989.  Over the years Nanny Sizemore has given me things from her collection, but this was just a heart breaking experience knowing that the house I had known and grown to love was leaving the family.  I left with a van full of memories and a sad heart knowing that her house would soon be the stepping stone of new memories for someone else.  I pray that whoever gets the house has as many great memories there as I do.