Going back home....

Isn't it fun to go back "home"? The place where you grew up. Yesterday was my "Mimi's" birthday. She turned 74. The kids and I went to visit her after school. My Aunt Casey came over too...and she is a hoot!
Mimi still lives in the same house she's lived in since 1955. I grew up three doors (and a stream) down from her. So there are many many memories on "the hill"....that is what my family calls it. My dad grew up there, his dad grew up there too. And every neighbor is a relative. We all laugh about it because when my great uncle and his wife divorced they just moved across the stream from each other! When my parents divorced we did the same thing! It was a great place to grow up. Woods and hiking trails, ponds and streams, no traffic, and these huge rocks to play on....or slide down in the Fall and the best climbing trees ever!
As soon as we got there yesterday, Cam and Carlie bolted out of the car and down to the house to find Mimi. She was on the back balcony feeding birds. By the time I caught up to them Cam had already climbed halfway up a fig tree. He LOVES those nasty things! Mimi had picked most of them for preserves, but there were still some at the very top. After getting all that he could reach, he asked me to get the rest. I just couldn't resist! I climbed the tree and started picking! Some of them were on itty bitty branches, so I had to bend the limbs down and let Cam grab them from the balcony. Fig trees aren't very big, you know! Of course my Mimi is hollering things like "My Lord, Courtney Amber, you are going to fall and break your neck!" She's been saying that to me for nearly 30 years! And every time I moved my feet or reached higher she would say "Oh!", "Ooh!", and "Lord help!". I was cracking up. So was Cam. Carlie....well...she was too busy chasing the dog around the yard.
It's just so much fun going back. I'd never consider climbing a tree at my house! (then again, I don't have an orchard either) But I do it every time I go to Mimi's. Last time it was for pears. Next time...I'm betting pecans! And I can't wait! Pecan picking is my favorite..because you don't really pick. You just climb the tree and shake it like crazy! Then the people below you pick them up off the ground. When I was a little girl we used to go "pick" pecans at Mimi and Granddaddy's. My daddy would climb the tree and shake, my granddaddy,my brother and I would be standing underneath with paper grocery sacks. We kids both loved it when the pecans would start raining down...yes, we got hit on the head, and anywhere else we couldn't cover...but that was half the fun! Now, daddy can't climb the big trees anymore, so I get to do the shaking and he and my kids get to do the "picking"! Then we all have to do the cracking....I usually eat more than I put up though! :-)
Yesterday was really wonderful. I haven't been home in awhile. And that is so sad to me. But I'm just so busy with kids and stuff. I've promised the kids that we will do better and go more often. They love it as much as I do. It's not everyday that you can stay outside until dark and never run out of things to do! But when you do go in...you get to eat Mimi's cooking...bang on the piano...and slide down the stairs on the bench cushions....who wouldn't love that!