My Wynona Now

On Saturday we loaded up and headed to my hometown of Wynona to visit my grandparents and mom (Mom had to work so we only saw her for just a little bit). It was one of those long visits that centered me and filled me with peace.

Before we could get Tucker and his barrage of stuff out of the car, Grandpa was out the door, off the front porch and welcoming us with hugs. Grandma was in the kitchen already getting everything ready for lunch. I snuck in and sat Tucker on the kitchen floor to surprise Grandma and it was so cute hearing her laugh and be so tickled to see our sweet boy just sitting in the middle of the kitchen!

Grandma and Grandpa were happy to cook us a big lunch of fried catfish (caught by Grandpa), fried potatoes, corn, tomatoes, onions (all from their garden - except the corn. Grandma uses Del Monte canned corn because she's never had corn better than Del Montes!).

While lunch cooked, Alec, Tucker and I went out to Grandpa's shop to see his latest sweet potato crop. I've never seen such huge sweet potatoes! One was so big that Grandpa had to get out the scale so we could weigh it (almost 5 pounds)!

After lunch, Grandpa whisked Alec away ("Only those who can grow facial hair can go" Alec announced) while Grandma and I tried our darndest to get Tucker down for a nap.

The most endearing moment was watching Grandma rock Tucker and sing to him. My eyes kept tearing up and I blamed it on allergies (I get my soft heart from Grandpa - not Grandma). It was just so sweet! Grandma is 84 years old, but she played with Tucker - lifting him up over her head and walking around swinging with him - like she had all the strength in the world.

Grandma is at the stage in her life where she wants to give us things - just little things - a deviled egg tray, some little hors d'oeuvre dishes and some crystal salt and pepper shakers ("When you put out your crystal, you can use these!"). Grandma is a firm believer that everyone should have a little bit of crystal (she's also given me a crystal vase and crystal pickle dish).

Grandma showed me some of her favorite necklaces and her other favorite jewelry. She always remembers when "Daddy" got her this ring or these earrings ("They're real diamonds!").

After Alec and Grandpa got back from checking things out around town (and digging up more sweet potatoes), Grandma asked that they take us riding around town. So we all loaded up in our car and headed out on the big Wynona tour!

Alec drove and turned down each street Grandpa instructed with just the slightest point of his finger. Grandma and Grandpa offered commentaries as we crept along the crumbling streets of my hometown - "This is the house where we were married!" Grandma said; "87 years ago, I was born right here...well there used to be a house there..." Grandpa points out; "When I was in high school, we lived here." Grandma tells us. It was a bit of a challenge keeping up with them - our heads turning left and right like we were watching a tennis match!

It was one of those nice long visits where time just gets away - talking about sweet potatoes and flowers and all the simple things in life. It's nice to go back home to remind you of the importance of family and marriage and to clear your head...even if it's just for an afternoon.