Mamaw

My Mamaw is an amazing person. I love her so much. And miss her immensely every single day. She is the best grandma in the whole wide world.
She lives in Kentucky so I do not get to see her as much as I want to. I wanted to see her this summer but because of money circumstances, I do not see that happening.
My Mamaw was born in the rural hollers (hollows) of Kentucky. I'm not sure how much schooling she had, if any. Her family lived in a one room house and lived off of the land. It was near the town of Stanton, Kentucky. At some point, her family acquired land in what is now part of The Daniel Boone National Forest. The government wanted to buy the land from them but it was too rich in minerals so they could not forcibly buy it from them. This property is still in our family and I have spent a lot of time there. It is so beautiful and has a beautiful creek with small waterfalls. It has huge rocks scattered about with moss growing on them. I worry that when my Mamaw passes away that the land will be sold by my money hungry aunt & uncle.
I am not sure what my Mamaw's legal name is. I have heard that it is Dulcina but she crossed it off on her birth certificate and wrote Ellis. She says that she was born with the first name of Ellis; I have asked her many times about this. But my source says she saw the birth certificate first hand so who really knows.
I have also heard that my Mamaw & Papaw were never officially married and have a common law marriage. Another rumor is that their first child is not my grandfathers biological child. My aunt says that she took a college course where they had to do lab work and it proved that she was not his child. She has never asked them about this. My Mamaw has 3 daughters & then 3 sons. The youngest was always sickly so she was overprotective of him which was a great disservice to him. He has a lot of issues. My dad was the 4th child born, the oldest son. I was the 6th grandchild, 3rd granddaughter. (But she made me feel like I was special, the most special grandchild). She ended up having 13+ grandchildren. I added the plus because there are a few unknown grandchildren out there including my own half-siblings.
She lived in Ohio & Florida after she was married. She loves Florida & the ocean. They ended up moving back to Kentucky and buying the farm where she still lives. When they bought the farm it had a large plantation home on it with the big white columns. But when my Papaw went back to Florida to get the family, it caught fire and burned down. Rumor is that it was foul play because my Papaw refused to buy insurance on the home. I do believe that there was another home on the property because a lot of old items have been found on the land. I had an old white gold ring that was hand made that my Mamaw gave to me after she found it in the garden. I loved this ring so much but lost it in high school at Tower Books onWatt Ave. It was too big and I was young so I never had it resized. I was and still am incredibly sad about this. So after the fire, they had to build a new, modest home. This is the home that I love and call my home.
My Mamaw loves children and would babysit all of the neighborhood kids. She also loved to garden. She is not allowed to any longer since she fell in the garden. I remember walking with her in the garden and picking green beans. We would then sit in front of the house & string & break them so she could can them. She did a lot of canning. One time my mom dumped out many and I mean many jars of "bad" green beans. She opened one and it smelled funny. Come to find out they were pickled. My Mamaw just laughed.
My sister (half-sister but she doesn't feel like half a sister) April & I would spend so much time climbing one particular tree in front of the house. We would just pick a limb and hang out for hours in the tree. I was so sad when I came back recently and the tree was gone. There also was a very large pine tree that I would lay under on a bench and just stare up the tree and be amazed at it's size and beauty. She always had flowers, lots of flowers. Lots of day lilies, sugar snaps that we always made "talk", Money plant (that I always get seeds from but never plant when I get back home) & I loved her orange trumpet vine that was right next to the front door. Sadly it is gone as of summer 2007. My uncle's wife took it out. :(
I did so much at her house. I made a gazillion mud pies at her house. That may be an understatement. There is an old brick oven outside under the walnut tree so I would "bake" my pies in there. I would swing in the backyard on the tire swing with my cousins and sister. So much fun! I loved arrowhead hunting on the farm. My dad & I found quite a few.
There was a corncrib on the farm that stored corn in my early years, I remember climbing in with the corn and walking around. But later on it became more of the storage shed. It had so much stuff in there. Actually it was kinda like a treasure hunt! Near the corncrib were pear trees that we would always pick and eat. I can't eat a pear without thinking about those trees.
My Mamaw was our nurse too. Of course, she was hands-on self taught. She knew all of the old home rememdies. She has always had an aloe plant on her fireplace for medicinal purposes. If I got hurt my mom would rush me over to her (30 minute drive).
She loves to paint. Above her fireplace, she painted a beach/ocean scene. On my last visit, I had planned to ask for one particular painting she had done that was hung up in her dining room. When I got there it was gone. She doesn't know where it went. But she would have given it to me and I would have loved it. My uncle & his wife have moved in with them and lots of things in the home and garden have changed or gone missing.
As a child I spent so much time there. As a baby, my Mamaw babysat me (see Tornado post). And we spent our weekends there up until I moved to California at the age of 9. I remember being at her home more than my own home. Most of my memories are at this home.
My Mamaw always made me feel special and loved. I was always her "favor-rite granddaughter" as I know that they all are her "favor-rite" grandchildren. But I still feel that there is something special between us that the others do not have. I wish I could visit with her more because I really miss her. She is an amazing grandmother and because of her I can't wait to be a "Mamaw" just like her someday.