I went to Statesboro, Georgia, this weekend for my great-grandmother's 90th birthday, and for the first two hours I slept, but for the second half of the trip I drove, and for the entire two hours and ten minutes, I was dying to pull over and pick the flowers on the side of the highway. There were pink flowers and purple flowers, and flowers that were both pink and purple, and blueish flowers, and yellow flowers, which were my favorite. I think some of them were weeds, but I still wanted to pick them. I've always felt a little bit sorry for weeds, because nobody loves them, but they're special too, right? They're pretty, even if they are kind of annoying. People can be annoying, but we don't spray them with chemicals with the purpose of killing them; we love tolerate them with the purpose of loving them. I'm just saying.
So for those two hours that I wanted to pull over and pick flowers, I also didn't want to, because I wanted to get to Statesboro very soon! I was pretty conflicted. But for the sake of my family, who was in the car with me, I didn't pull over to pick flowers, I just thought about it for the whole entire time.
Statesboro is just one of my favorite places ever. The land my family lives on there has been in our family for a really long time, and we call it "the farm," but most of it isn't so much of a farm anymore. We have a lot of fish fries when we're at the farm (and by fish fries, I mean an event that is called a fish fry, not a french fry made out of fish. I just felt like I should clarify that), except for unfortunately I do not enjoy the taste of fish in my mouth. Not even a little bit. But I enjoy the event. And the grits.
I hate to pick favorite people because I love everyone so much, but if I could, my uncle Ralph (who is actually my great uncle) would definitely be one. For as long as I can remember, every time I see him, he asks me if I have a boyfriend yet. I've never been able to say yes to this question, and I used to hate it, but now I like it. (The question, not the fact that I can't say yes.) I just like knowing that when we go to the farm, I'm going to hug Uncle Ralph, and he's going to ask me that, and I'm going to laugh uncomfortably and say, "Nope, not yet," and then he'll say something really sweet to me and talk about those young men.
Uncle Ralph
After fish fries and Uncle Ralph and, of course, my most wonderful grandparents, my favorite thing about the farm is four-wheeling. It makes me feel so cool and Southern. I like it when I get to ride on the back and somebody else is driving, usually my dad or my brother. This weekend, my brother and I went four-wheeling kind of a lot and it was awesome. He would say, "Let's go sploring" and I would say "Okay!" and we would go.
My brother is kind of ticklish, so I have to be careful if I hold onto his stomach while he's driving. It's great. He drives fast (but carefully of course) and we have the best times. Sometimes I throw up my arms and say "I'm invincible!!!" and feel the wind on my face. Sometimes he makes pterodactyl yells as we speed through the forest. You never really know what's going to happen when my brother and I go sploring. Also he periodically forgets what gear he's in so we have to stop and go back to neutral and start all over. But I don't mind.
On Friday night, while we were on our first sploration of the weekend, and we were going so fast and I could feel the wind all over everywhere and it wasn't too hot but it also wasn't too cold and the air smelled like honeysuckles and Jack pulled over and let me pick some and eat them and then he ate some and then we went sploring even more, this song was going through my head. I had always thought that this song was about romantic love, and I still think it is, but singing it in my head the other night during our adventure was so perfect. The song fit just like a little puzzle piece, just like a key in a lock. It made me so happy. I love my brother.
On Saturday we had this huge lunch with everyone we're related to plus a few others, all in honor of GG, my great-grandmother, who is wonderful. She and I had on the same color of toe nail polish, which is a huge honor because she is stylish. I'm not even kidding. She always looks good. She even sacrifices being able to hear for the sake of fashion, because she wears hearing aids but then sprays hair spray which cakes up on her hearing aids and does not help her to hear. At all.
I didn't get to talk to her a lot because there were so many people there to see her, but before I left, I got to hug her and talk a little. We talked about how I'm at Clemson, just like my daddy was, and she told me I keep getting purtier and purtier, and that I look a lot like my grandmother, who died when I was ten. She and I were very special to each other, so looking like her is a huge privilege and honor. Then GG hugged and kissed me and I had to go.
GG and me this weekend
A few observations about my family/the South in general: Only in the South are 4-year-olds fed sweet tea for lunch and dinner and only in my family do we keep 24-packs of beer in the bathroom.
I learned at a young age that ohana means family (Lilo and Stitch, anybody?), but this weekend I decided that waking up early to set up tables and chairs and listening to what Aunt Mary tells you to do and your dad telling you to be a man even if you're a girl is what family really is. It's enjoying yourself through tolerating things you don't really always want to and sharing DNA with a bunch of crazy people you didn't get to choose, but loving them anyway.
Some guy who prayed for us at lunch on Saturday (I honestly don't know who he was or if he's even related to us) said it well when he said, "Father, you created family before you created the church. We are thankful for that and for each other."
some other pictures from the weekend:
Could it be a farm without a big red barn? No. No it couldn't.
It's just so weird to think that this is so run-down now but it used to be brand new. My Statesboro family is very much like me in that we never throw anything away, including buildings. I like it that way.
This is my favorite. I love staring at scenery next to water; looking at the reflection and the real thing and how they're almost exactly the same, except for one disappears if you try to touch it. Also I love the boat.
Love,
Lauralicious
PS - Sorry I'm not sorry this post is so long!
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