How to Survive Without the Internet 2

Their house in the country was given to Mom-to-be about 10 years ago when her mother (Big Momma) passed away.  They only use it when they visit a few times every year.  So almost everything is the same as it was back then.  

Furniture is falling apart.  The musty smell makes me wonder if it’s me or the house.  Cobwebs line the windows & doorways.  

Forgotten keys hang in forgotten places.  Dated china sits on dated shelves.  

An American flag stands up in a bottle of Sam’s Choice Grape-Cranberry.  

It’s cold & wet outside.  The plumbing isn’t working like it should.  The bed is uncomfortable.  Does it hurt my baby when I can’t sleep?  Why am I here again?  

I look closer.  

A calendar hangs from the year 2000.  I ask everyone if she died that year, but they can’t remember exactly.  Must have been.  

Photographs of generations of family everywhere.  The similarities to my family’s old photographs are remarkable, heartwarming and amusing.  Pictures fascinate me.  

A cousin visits that they haven’t seen in years.  One of the best story-tellers I’ve ever witnessed.  For hours they exchange story after story of their childhood.  

That empty cabinet is where Big Momma kept her candy stash.  One day he stole a piece and hid underneath it & fell asleep after eating it.  They called his name, gathered the whole family to go searching for him in the woods behind the house.  He was found eventually when he woke up & crawled from underneath the cabinet with the candy wrapper tumbling to the floor.

They rode the pigs & tried to hide it from Big Momma, but she always knew why they were so tired.  

Of course, his tales are much more colorful.  I wish I had a video camera, but then I remember that those moments are often more precious in my mind.   

Mom-to-be tells me who the people in the pictures are.  When they died.  How they lived.  

She shows me pictures of Marcus as a baby & child, and I wonder how similar ours will be.  

All of the stories of laughter and life make the cold dirty old house seem warm and cozy.