A few weeks before the wedding, I called Dorothy, one of Mom and Dad’s friends and asked her if she would paint the cover of my book. Mom had also taken painting lessons from Dorothy, and I have a picture of a flower in a vase Mom painted. Mom also started painting a picture of the St. Simons lighthouse, but she never finished. I had tried to paint the picture of Jesus in the clouds twice, and the paintings were not very good. I felt as though this was something I needed to finish.
One night, as I was in my shower praying about who I could get to paint the cover, her name immediately popped in my mind. When I talked to her, I told her about seeing Jesus in the clouds, and I told her I tried to paint what I saw that day. She thought I would be able to do it myself. I reassured her, the paintings were terrible. I told her I would bring the picture I painted to Dad’s wedding.
I saw Dorothy at the reception and showed her the painting. She liked it, but I knew it was not what I wanted, and I knew she could paint it ten times better. She told me she did not have any plans later in the afternoon, and I could come over to her house. I was thrilled!
Paul and I helped bring the gifts back to the house. Claudia called and told me she and Dad got in their first argument. I asked her if it was because of the bird seed, and she said no. She told me it was because Dad would not share his cookies. She told me Dad was not listening to what the preacher said. I told her to put Dad on the phone, and I told him to share the cookies with Claudia.
Immediately Dad kept repeating a phrase about pay back. He was referring to the bird seed. I reminded him he got the pay back from all four girls getting birdseed thrown on us at our weddings. I told him while I was on my honeymoon I was dumping birdseed out of my suitcase into the street.
He was trying to figure out which daughter did it. Of course I did not tell him it was me. He said it was probably the older two daughters. At the reception, he said something to Jamie about it being her, and Juliette said her mom did it. So, I don’t think he had a clue who did it!
While I was at Dad’s house, Joan (Grandma Freddie’s daughter), Scott (her husband), and Granddaddy came over. They had not seen the house since it had been remodeled. I had already called Dorothy and told her I was on my way over when they came to visit. I stayed awhile and visited with them.
I talked to Joan in the kitchen. We talked about my book, and I told her I had a publisher that would publish my book, but I would have to pay $ 4,000 to get it published. She said,“Your mom wouldn’t have wanted you to pay $ 4,000.” As I sit here typing, I started to cry because I can hear Mom now getting on to me about spending $ 4,000 to get my book published.
We also talked about all the changes going on lately and the changes to Dad’s house. I told her at first I did not want anyone to come in and change things, but now I was fine. Joan told me when she first went back to Grandma Freddie’s house it was hard. She said she took all the pictures down right away. Then I asked her if it was because it was too painful, she said yes. The pictures brought back painful memories of her not being there. Each person is different and handles death and change in different ways. Either way, it is hard and very painful.
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