Family...

Yesterday we visited and visited some more...

Of course one of our first visits was with Bunny.
I had to get my puppy fix... withdrawls were setting in.
And she fixes you up pretty good with puppy kisses and belly rubs.

Mom's first cousin, Wilma belongs to Bunny.
And if it is even possible, I am going to venture to say, Bunny is even more spoiled than any one of my puppies.
If that is possible!

Next stop... Uncle Joe and Aunt Alice.
This would be my Papa Moody's Sister (there was 13 kids in all).
I never got to meet my Papa Moody, he died when he was only 53.
But Mama Moody, well lets just say, I was probably THE luckiest kid ever to have the best hand picked premium, full of love, best hug giving, compasionate granma's in the whole world!!!! She was definitely a LIGHT and example of an examplary women in my life.
So as we visited with these, most amazing people... really amazing!
I was so hopeful to get a glimpse of pictures of my Papa or their parents!
At first hints she just mentioned she had them, then as we visited a little longer, I could tell she had been thinking about it and really got the hint that I wanted to see them. She walked over to a cabinet, full of albums stuffed with pictures... just when she was about to give up on knowing where any of those particular photos might be (and kindly not wanting to bore me with all the other family that I wouldn't have been as interested in) she found 2 of her parents.
One was a very old fashioned photo when they were probably first married. My great grandfather was nothing what I thought he would look like, very fair skinned and light haired. But my great grandmother, like the Moody's had very dark deep eyes, and dark hair and olive skin. And a very defining clean smile. Just like my Dad!
It was neat to see them, I tried to imbed that photo into my memory!
And then hung on every word of memory Alice could share with me.
I knew they must have been really special people, and I wanted to have memories of them, like I do my Mama.

Later in the evening, we had dinner with Greg and Michelle Moody, my Uncle Ken's second son.
Greg, who looks and everyeday acts more and more just like his Dad, is such a good guy.
Since I was really little, I had always admired how loving and kind he was to his wife.
Michelle, an artist and the Emily Post of party hosts!
What a fun night we had with them.

I hope in my time here we can see many more family members.
I am just glad we don't all exchange Christmas presents, I would already be broke.

I love being in the South. I forget about so many of the cultural differences here, and I keep finding myself whipping my head around to get a second look at something. Or , hearing some word or phrase I have to repeat in my mind over and over again to try and understand the meaning or content. Yesterday I heard "my mama ustaculd" and had shivers run up my spine realizing I really did sprout from a bunch of rednecks.
And my brother and I had a really big laugh about his wife visiting years ago, and thinking we were talking about "bald peanuts" when it was really boiled peanuts.

Note to self... search for bald peanuts while you are out today!