For Ms. Neale's Reading Classes, part 2

Entries from Ma Ma's personal journal...

November 16, 2008

On Feb. 16, 1931, Mama passed away and [I] will never forget what a lonesome day that was. She had a very hard life, but we never heard her complain and she was always happy and enjoyed every day of her life. In the year of 1930 I had my appendix surgery and I was in bed from Nov. 16, 1930, until April, 1931. I had to learn to walk

[again] and one leg is shorter than the other, and it will be that way until the day I die.

November 17, 2008

Mama was buried on November 17th, 1931, and I had to stay and clean up the house before I could go back home. I had no help from anyone, and Christmas was coming soon, but I made it through and I finally got everything done, and the holidays was there and I had all of [my inlaws,] the Johnsons and Bessie and Homer for Christmas dinner.

November 26, 2008

We are going over to Jay & Debra's today to have Thanksgiving dinner. Jay is a good cook and he loves to do that. I [used] to cook a big Thanksgiving dinner and all my family depended on me to do that. I would cook and they would sure be there.

Ma Ma was thought of as the provider for her entire family. In the early days she was raising three of her siblings -- one brother and two sisters. But when a holiday came around, or whenever some other family member was in the area, Ma Ma's kitchen was where everyone ended up, invited or not. Often they showed up just in time to eat.

Daddy's family did pretty much the same thing, so there were times when Ma Ma was cooking for 20 or more people, none of whom did much to help.

More recently, I took over most of the cooking duties. Ma Ma was not able to stand in the kitchen and cook for the last 10 or 12 years of her life, and she really didn't want to cook most of the time for several years before that. Many of the holidays she spent at my house, and I cooked for her. It was the least I could do, considering she taught me to cook from the time I was eight years old. I loved making something for her that she used to make for me, and I always got a grin from her.