Georgia Magazine - December 2010 - (Page 27)

Family ties BY SANDRA WARWICK ORDER FORM Subscribe online at www.georgiamagazine.org or mail the form below. $15.95 for two years E veryone seemed to arrive at once, placing bubbly casseroles, fresh vegetables, glazed hams and fried chicken on an overflowing counter. Cakes with fluffy icing, pies and cookies commanded a table of their own. “Nobody will go hungry here,” my cousin observed as people gathered in the church fellowship hall for our family reunion. Daddy’s family had decided Sandra Warwick, front row, third from right, and it was time to get together and her cousins smile for the camera. share the pieces of our lives that handed down from Granny, who only a family can appreciate. It was wasn’t there in body, but her recipes the first time in years most of us had kept her with us in spirit. gathered together. Laughter and stories echoed Granny, Papa and three uncles throughout the room as we ate and had already left this world, but I reminisced. All but one of my liked to think they were looking cousins and I squeezed together for down on us. a picture. We had come together, like most My cousins and I were now midfamilies, with our similarities and difdle age with kids of our own. Some ferences, mistakes and accomplishhad grandkids. We were bound ments—and our longing to be with together not only by DNA, but by the people who had shaped and childhood memories. molded us into who we were. Daddy and his two sisters stood “I remember this Christmas Eve,” for a picture. Aunt Mary, Daddy’s I told my daughter as we looked youngest sister, leaned over and at family pictures. In a decades-old kissed him as Aunt Ree looked over photo, my brother, two cousins and and smiled. I stood in front of Granny and Papa’s A poignant moment frozen in fireplace. Our excited grins told of time, it told why we had gathered in Christmas Eves spent with family. this fellowship hall. Pictures and photo albums filled We came together with all our the table. Daddy, Mama, aunts and imperfections, strengths and weakuncles smiled with faces not yet lined nesses. We embraced each other and with a lifetime. My siblings, cousins remembered where we came from— and I posed and giggled with innoand the love that started it all with cence. Granny and Papa held grandGranny and Papa. kids and beamed. Births, graduations Sandra Warwick is a freelance and marriages all were caught in a writer living in North Georgia. flash for us to relive and cherish. The line wound around the felIf you have a meaningful Georgia experience to lowship hall as we filled our plates. share, see page 6 for submission information. Many of the dishes we enjoyed were More online at www.georgiamagazine.org page 34 Farms, ueberry Byne Bl 0 June 201 December 2010 Give a Gift Subscription to .org agazine eorgiam www.g Mail subscription request to GEORGIA Magazine Subscription Request, P.O. Box 1707, Tucker, GA 30085-1707 27 Bill me Gift subscription is from: I am enclosing a check or money order for (check one) Address State Name Zip City City State Address Name Please notify the recipient of gift County Please send a gift subscription to: $9.95 for one year Zip http://www.georgiamagazine.org/contactus.asp?menu=6 http://www.georgiamagazine.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - December 2010

Georgia Magazine - December 2010
Contents
Viewpoint
Mailbox
Picture This?
Georgia News
Calendar
Currents
Claus With a Cause
Soaring With Eagles
Around Georgia
My Georgia
Gardens
Georgia Cooks
Snapshot

Georgia Magazine - December 2010