Thursday, December 10, 2009

Home to Georgia - Part Two

Today I want to continue with my story of going home to Georgia. As I said in my last post, we really enjoyed our time :-) The next day, on Monday, we decided to go over to the storage unit where I have a lot of my things and some family things stored.



Behind this door is a great chunk of the history of my life. I know that this storage unit is very plain and generic, but it does the job :-) Brit Boy and I went over to retrieve some documents that I wanted to get. I had stored away family trees for both sides of my family and I wanted to get them and enter them into a family tree program on my computer. They got left behind when I came over to England. I had stored them away safely in a trunk and then in the confusion of moving here, I left them behind. So over the last three years, I’ve been itching to get back there and retrieve them. I’ve always been the one interested in genealogy in my family (every family has one :-)) ,so I want to get it all copied over before the paper disintegrates. One of the family trees is written out on a big piece of paper that is well over thirty years old. My cousin and I put this one together when I was a kid and got the names from my aunts who remembered the names by heart. Both of my aunts have passed on now, so I feel even more strongly about keeping this history alive :-)

On our first visit to open the storage unit, Brit Boy and I couldn’t get it open, so we left it and decided to come back with my sister who regularly goes to check on things. The locks were very tricky. The next day we did go back and we got inside. I’ll tell you, it was like truly stepping back in time. I got the most interesting sensation of being home again and yet looking at another me if that makes any sense. When I laid my hands on the family trees, I was relieved that they were still okay and that I would be able to finally get them organized all together and saved :)

Anyway, back to Monday for a minute. After Brit Boy and I couldn’t get into the storage unit, I wanted to go and buy flowers to put on my parents, brother, and grandparents’ graves. We bought the flowers and then headed to the neighboring town where my maternal grandmother is buried. I never knew her, but my mom told me a lot about her especially in the last year of my mother’s life. So I feel like I know her. I’m glad that I could bring Brit Boy along and tell him about her :-) Then we headed back home and went to the cemetery in town there. This is where my father’s side of the family is buried. I never knew any of my grandparents but I’ve heard so many stories of them that I feel like I know them. It used to make me sad that I never knew any of my grandparents, or knew what the love of a grandparent felt like. But then my mom told me that my maternal grandmother used to hold me for her when I was a baby and she had a chore to tend to. She knew that I was safe in Nanny’s arms. Nanny died when I was just three months old. So since my mom told me that, I’m comforted because even though I couldn’t talk to Nanny, I figure that she probably talked to me. And there is the connection that will always be there :-)

On the next day, Tuesday, Brit Boy and I spent a lot of the day with my sister and my niece who came in from California to hang out with us. We went to look around a few stores. Brit Boy got two new shirts. Then we decided to go have some lunch. This was my favorite part of Tuesday. LOL. We went to Red Lobster and took advantage for their very reasonably priced lunches. Love those bargains! ;-) I had been craving some sweet tea forever so I had to get some to go with my lunch. You know I love sharing photos of food, so here’s a shot of my glass when it was in need of a refill which I got soon after this photo :-)



For lunch I had garlic shrimp on skewers served on a bed of wild rice, with broccoli on the side. It was DELICIOUS! The food was simple, straightforward and good. Brit Boy had jambalaya.



We had such a great time and once again the conversation was good :-) It was great to just be able to let go and laugh and reminisce. There was a laid back vibe to the whole trip and it was just what we needed. Brit Boy and I kept joking that the whole week seemed like we were at a spa because we had good food, both bought and homemade, and we got a chance to get out in nature and just relax. I’ll tell more about our walks on the nature trail in my next post.

If you're like me, you know that storage units can be a great place to store all of your memories and treasures. I certainly treasure mine. Self storage with Lok'nStore is a great way to keep all of your memories safe.

8 comments:

Debra Stokes said...

Sounds like a fun trip. Glad you were able to collect your memories and make some new ones.

Krystal Grant said...

Glad you had a good time. Too bad I missed you when you came. I'm in Lithonia.

Diane said...

so yummy! looks great. :O)

j said...

I'm catching up -- so glad to hear that your family tree papers were intact and that you were having a great time, too. I also love the fact that you posted your picture here. You give off such a sense of warmth and friendliness, from your words to your smile.

Dori said...

Debra,
Yes, it was a great time and it went so fast :) So glad I could share it with you all. Thanks for stopping by!

Krystal,
Yeah, you weren't that far away from me at all. I was in your neck of the woods when we went to Stonecrest Mall. We'll have to connect next time :)

Diane,
Yeah, I still dream about the food. LOL. Hope you're having a great weekend :)

Jennifer,
Yes, I was relieved that nothing had got to the papers in storage. We had a blast! :)

You are so kind :) Thanks for your words...they mean a lot to me. It makes me feel good to know that you feel so welcomed here...that's because you always are :)

P.S. And the welcome goes for everyone else too...Have a great weekend everybody!

Se'lah said...

just caught up on your posts from your trip back home to GA...looks like a great time.

xo

Gianetta said...

Looks like you needed a bigger glass to hold your sweet tea.

JudyH329 said...

How did I miss these posts? I mean, I wanted to read them, must of happened right after the bad Tuesday I had! My daughter lives in Oklahoma, she said she always forgets that when she's in the south she should order unsweetened tea bacause in the South, when you order tea it's undertood to be sweet tea! Can't beat that Southern tea though! Dori-I'm the one who does genealogy for my family! I never really thought about it before, but you're right, there's always one or two people who keep the history of the family to pass along. Must be a gene installed at birth by God, "You are the family historian, you will keep your past for the future"!