The summer heat felt good on my face, and got warmer and warmer by the minute. But I knew that if I were to step into the shade my bare feet would freeze. That's how it was before noon in Skull Hollow, it would be fifty at twelve and ninety at one.
The dogs followed me up the road. The gravel crunched under my already dirty feet, and the breeze would blow my hair around, I knew I didn't look great. I hadn't even bothered to put on makeup, My family were the only ones to see me most of the time during the summer, and they've seen me at my worst.
I walked to the mail boxes and got my Mamaw's paper. I usually got it for her everyday, though sometimes she beat me to it.
Her home was first home in the holler. It sat on to a small hill, not huge, but big enough so that when the floods come during the spring it didn't reach her home or her car. She had a fairly large carport on her home, that was never used for cars. It was covered in chairs and a big swing hung off the side. She had made it welcoming. Every Sunday, she would prepare a dinner for the family and then we would all go and sit on the carport and just talk. Looking back I wish I would have appreciated that more. Now a days family's rarely eat together and even more rarely sit on a porch and just talk for hours. But even now, we still do it. Why? Maybe the answer is just so simple: love. We all there for each other. That made us a close knit family.
Mamaw was already up, talking on the phone, like usual. Most likely with her sister Gail, who was even more of an early riser than she was. She had a pot of coffee brewing, in preparation for my Aunt Terri who lived next door. I had always hated the taste of coffee but I loved the smell of it.
While I waited for Mamaw to get off the phone, I looked through the paper. It wasn't really anything new. More drug arrests in Portsmouth, a break-in in Sciotoville, hardly anything good. That's what this world is coming to. It's easy to forget that the world isn't as nice as it is in the Holler.
To my delight Mamaw was making her homemade noodles. It was a lot of work for her to make them, but she knew how much we all loved them. They were the best. Now I know everyone always says's their Mamaw's food is the best. But mines really is. By the time it's done, everybody was there. Mamaw had two daughters and three sons, all were there with their children. All of us kids were growing up, many of us were years apart and we all seemed to have different interests but still we are close.
Dad was off work today, to my delight. He works at a steel Mill and they work him for every second they can get out of him, and we don't get to see him as much as we like. Sometimes he'd work several doubles in a row, and I'd go a week without seeing him, even though we lived in the same house. But he never complained or quit. He always has been a hard worker, providing for his family has always been a priority in life.
Today was a nice enough day that most of us chose to eat outside. It was early June and wasn't too hot yet and the hornets were keeping away. I usually just listened when everyone talk, they had ways of making the simplest stories seem adventurous. I loved to hear my Dad tell a story, the way his eyes lit up and his laugh seemed to be infectious.
Us girls decided to take a walk up the holler, trying to be healthy but that was almost comical considering the big home-cooked, carbed meal we all just consumed.
The line-up usually consisted of My Aunt, Terri, Missy and Angie and my cousins, Maddie, Cari and Mandy. We'd walk and just chat. We always knew everything about each others lives. The boys, My cousins, were playing basketball. It was just too beautiful to not be outside, enjoying it.
Sundays in the Holler, Time seemed to slow down. It was the perfect way to end a weekend.
That way our weeks began and ended with family.
And at the end of the day, when I crawled in bed one quote came to mind:
