A Josie Moment and a flood of memories

Tonight about midnight Jamie brought Josie to me because she was crying. The girls had been playing in their room and Josie just started crying. When I asked what was the problem she said that she only wanted to go to Heaven if she could take her toys because she would be sad without her toys. I loved on her and told her that I thought having her toys in Heaven would be no problem because the Bible says that there are no tears in Heaven. I also told her that she would get to meet Mamaw in heaven. Tonight I was cooking supper while Julie was delivering Bibles to all of the new babies at the hospital. Jackson was asking why I was using a square cast iron skillet? I told him it belonged to my Mom and that it made me have happy memories because it was a pan she used to cook cornbread. I was cooking smoked sausage and eggs which is a Jackson favorite meal. Growing up we often ate breakfast for supper. Eggs, grits, sausage, and 2 biscuits for each person because there were 5 of us and canned biscuits came 10 to the can. One of my other favorite things about breakfast for supper was when my Grandad was still alive and had a garden and grew strawberries. My mom would make strawberry freezer jam in little jars. That really cold red jam on a biscuit was always good. Speaking of strawberries, reminds me of two stories. Aunt Blanche would pay Alan, Kelly and me a dollar a quart for picking strawberries as a kid. That was not very expensive for her since we wouldn't pick more than a quart or two before we were tired of working in the garden. I also remember very well going to the Strawberry Parade in Humbolt, TN with Uncle Mose. We sat in the parking lot of the Big Star grocery store and watched the parade go by. Directly across the street was the Humbolt Fire Truck. People were sitting on the top of the cab of the firetruck and in the middle of the parade the driver turned on the siren and all the people on top were jumping off because it scared them. The only other thing I remember about the parade itself was a small trailer being pulled by a John Deere lawnmower. The trailer had a baby swing on it and the baby was screaming and the mom was just walking beside the trailer and not helping the baby. Uncle Mose bought me Cotton Candy at the parade. As I think of strawberries I remember that mom would often buy Neapolitan ice cream and we would eat only the chocolate and the vanilla. Dad was the only person who would eat the strawberry. When we made homemade ice cream we would often make strawberry/banana. When I was in high school mom switched to Butterfinger for homemade ice cream. My current favorite Sonic drink is Strawberry Limeaide. At Chili's I like Strawberry Lemonade. It is 6 minutes to 1 am and the boys are on the couch asleep and Jamie and Josie have made a bed on the den floor and Jamie is reading books to Josie. All I can think is how much God is blessing me and I am thankful tonight for Josie, Heaven, Jackson, that Square Cast Iron skillet, Strawberries, and fond memories of my childhood. I am thankful for my family and all my kids.