I adored my mother's sisters and my grandmother. When we got together every other Sunday of my child hood, it was wild hugs and kisses and fun. After a heavy Sunday meal and the dishes were done, they adjourned to the bedroom for a nap and a gossip. If young girls, like my cousins and I did not call attention to ourselves, we got a lot of information not meant for our ears. I could always depend on my aunts to be there for me. When I was living alone at seventeen, my aunt Freda would invite me over for lunch and to spend the night. My aunt Nola was always like a second mother to me and to my cousin Jackie. My children loved Nola like a another grand mother. In the summer, our cousins were our paymates. I stayed a week with them and a week with each grandmother. Both of my grandmothers played the piano and sang. My aunts and my mother formed a trio that sang "specials" in church. Both grandmothers were drafted as pianist for church quite often. I was uncomfortable with my maternal grandfather who wasn't around much. He played the fiddle at dances but would not permit my grandmother or the girls to partake of these parties. He was gone a lot on fishing trips. We stayed with my grandmother when he was gone and had delightful talks with my grandmother at night, sleeping in her big bed with the southeast breeze blowing on us. When we were planning Linda's wedding, we found the perfect dress but it was too large. Nola came to the rescue and volunteered to fit it to her. She was a great seamstress. Bobby went with us and the three of us had a memorable day with her. The aunts are long gone and I miss them. My cousin, Thelma, is very frail and struggling to stay in her home. She needs to be in assisted living. Jackie visits from California several times a year. She has been a widow twice over. We never ever thought we would be old.