sunshine on a rainy day

I ended this month with a visit to southern Georgia. I hadn't seen my cousin Lynn in ... well, quite a few years, it seems! She and I seemed to not be around Waycross at the same time. I had contacted her several times on my way back home from Florida, but she would be out of town.
Clearly, a better game plan was needed! So, I contacted her earlier this week: might she be available for lunch on Wednesday? Yes, she would, but she had a late shift on Tuesday, so could we make it later in the afternoon? Sure thing!
The time was set for 3 PM, or thereabouts. She would give me a call when she awakened. Yeah!
When she called, I was already on my way to Waycross, one-time home of my maternal grandparents and summertime destination for my family when we were kids. My cousin, now a grandmother herself, still lived there, though not where my mother's mom and dad once lived.
Okay, enough with the background info! Talk about y'all's lunch!
(smile)
She suggested Cavagnaros, an Italian place with lots of variety. Cool beans! A new place to add to my list of resolutions kept!
She arrived shortly after I did, with a bright smile to offset the gray skies and light drizzle. Yeah! I really think she smiled the entire time, and I did, too. Three hours we were there! The manager finally came over and asked if we would mind settling up, as our young waitress was due to leave and needed to close out our bill before she left. We did so, then probably still stayed another hour, with the manager as our tea-glass filler. Very nice!
I had the best steak tips with onions and peppers! Yum! And she had the steak salad, with the same tasty beef. We also had corn nuggets, meant as an appetizer, but there was a dinner plate full of them, served piping hot with a honey mustard sauce. I eventually took at least half that plateful home with me, as well as my untouched sweet potato (which was destined to become part of my breakfast the next day). I just finished off the corn nuggets as an accompaniment to ham and bean soup. Still tasty, still smiling!
Why? Well, lemme tell you this: wouldn't you still be smiling after a visit with someone who loves you so much? Of course you would!
It had nothing to do with our conversation. Well, no, let me amend that. Most of our conversation was catching up on the events relating to our siblings, some good, some not so good. Ah, well. You're going to have that, right? Bad choices lead to hard lives and drugs encourage bad choices.
But we also talked about her little granddaughter's first birthday and how wonderful it was to have her son and his lovely, loving wife living close to her again. And we talked about my first niece and her family and how wonderful it has been having them so close to me.
And we talked about men. We both need strong men who will love us as we are. Strong men looking for strong women. No, I'm not talking about physical strength, and neither is she. Strong in character, strong with passion, strong in acceptance and humor and love of this world. Strong like we strive to be.
Impossible things?
I hope not.
She also shared a story with me. She and another of my cousins (her little sister) had been reading one of my posts on the social media we all share. She said they were amazed by how involved i am with life in this city by the sea. So many films! Yet another new play! Dancing! Dining! Games nights with children!
Wow! I wasn't even aware they were following all of that. But it gladdened my heart to know they do. After all, that means I am loved!
That is always good to know.
I drove home with storm clouds chasing the sky alongside. Then, a break in the clouds, with sunbeams forcing their way forward! I thought I saw a smiling face and tried to capture it - drats! Missed!
Then, while watching the water paths meandering across my windshield (easily entertained am I), I took a picture of their wobbly paths.
It wasn't until I reached home that I saw it: the smiling face I had missed in the earlier shot. Woohoo!
i thank You, God! i thank the angel keeping me company as I ran back to Savannah! I would like to think my Uncle Jimmy was this funny, goofy, smiley face, thanking me for the visit to my Waycross cousin.
Then again, maybe it was Grandmama. She was always the one who traveled around from Tallahassee to Savannah and Augusta and Strong, Arkansas, keeping home fires burning.
Sometimes, she traveled with me.
Maybe this was one of those times.