Happy 100th Birthday Grandmama!

Annie Louise Dixon McGregor was my Grandmama (Dad's mother). She was everything that a Grandmama could possibly be all balled into one gentle, kind-hearted, generous, and loving woman. She lived a wonderful, long, happy 81 years on earth. On January 19, she would be 100, if she were still here with us. Ever since, my MamaCain (Mom's mother) passed away, the Lord has been pressing upon my heart the importance of family and remembering extraordinary people in my life. Oh, how I wish Grandmama could have met my sweet husband and two amazing daughters. She would have loved them completely and called each one, "Sugarfoot," just as she called me.


I remember spending many weekends as a preteen and teenager with my grandparents in the country on their farm in Girard where my Dad grew up. My Grandmama rarely ever missed her Friday hair appointment in Augusta. She and Granddaddy would drive the hour to Augusta every Friday for Grandmama's "beautifying," then do their grocery shopping at Kroger, then drive out to my childhood home to see us as Matt and I arrived home from school. Then, later on we would go out to dinner, usually to Calabash Seafood or Shoney's or Ryan's. My Aunt's family would join us for dinner as well. I always looked forward to Fridays and spending time with Grandmama and Granddaddy.

I remember my time at their home as always having fun and enjoying life. We would play cards, watch "The Price Is Right," cook fabulous meals, eat and eat some more, play school, fish in one of their ponds, drive to eat some more, drive around visiting family, and just enjoy being with each other. I spent hours in the living room listening to Grandmama prepare her music before church. She loved playing the piano and singing. I always enjoyed visiting their church with them. Granddaddy was still a member of his childhood church where he used to attend school (Little House on the Prairie style), and Grandmama was still a member at her childhood church just a few miles away. The churches were on the same "charge" so the preacher hopped from church to church preaching at a different church each Sunday. Both of their churches are beautiful little country churches.

I have fond memories of my trip to Canada with my Grandparents, when I was 13. I also remember many beach trips to Myrtle Beach, Jekyll Island, and numerous mountain trips. I have carried on the tradition of buying apples in the mountains on our way home from a fall vacation trip. Grandmama used to bring back bushels of baskets overflowing with apples after our fall mountain trips. I convinced Mark to stop this past fall for apples. Even if the apples are bought at a local Publix as opposed to fresh orchard apples, I don't care; it's the tradition of it that makes it fun.

Grandmama was a southern lady of class, style, and a heart that was loving and compassionate. She loved her husband deeply and her children and her grandchildren deeply, as well. Her heart was always to give and share of herself in any way possible. I believe what I remember most about Grandmama was her heart to share her TIME with me. She passed away when I was 16 years old, after she fell while tending to her rose garden. She loved beautiful flowers, especially roses. The love between she and Granddaddy was priceless. He loved her deeply and with a love that was real and forever. He looked at her as he kissed her one last time, and said to her, "You are just as beautiful today as the day we married." His heart was broken when she died, and when she died a piece of him died. He literally lost the will to live and passed away 6 weeks later.

All of this to say, I just wanted to honor the memory of my Grandmama with a post today for what would have been her 100th birthday. I miss you Grandmama. I just wish I knew her in my adult-life, because I would call and ask her so many questions. I would love to hear her opinion, to find out about a recipe, to learn how to make her delicious caramel cake, to learn how to play the piano, and to ask her favorites in life. So, as I am typing this, I am realizing that I need to act in the now - the present - and ask questions to my mother or my mother-n-law as they come to me, because time is only fleeting! Happy Birthday Grandmama!