When I was growing up, we had people living with us occasionally who were not family members. Some of them, like Joan Allen became family, others we would rather forget. Carol can elaborate on that, her memory is lots better than mine. Our home now has always been open to others. My kids can say whether their lives were affected or not, but I feel nuturing souls is one of my life's callings. This all came to mind when I realized only a year ago we were a household of teenagers with Andrea, Jed, Tabi and Matthew. Now we are a household of little children. (Don't take that too personally Dave) That got me to thinking about all the people who have come and gone through Donald and mine homes.
There was Tom Silvia in Virginia shortly after we got married. He adored Jennifer. He later married a first cousin. Last we heard he was living in Valdosta. Pat Davis, Donald's used to be BFF until he got his feelings hurt and cut off contact with us, was living with us when I got pregnant with Helen. Aunt Susan and family lived with us a couple of times. That was always an adventure, especially when she would sneak around the corner of the waterbed and rear up her head hoping to scare the daylights out of me. Then there was Mel, who loved David. She suffered a mental breakdown because of stuff guys in the squadron put her through and other issues in her life, but boy was she fun! Remember Cindy? She didn't get along with her Dad after her mom passed away. There were a couple of women fleeing abusive husbands who spent a couple of days with us. Uncle Jimmy lived with us for a few months before I had David. Since we have been in Tifton we have had Kevin who stayed with us when his parents moved to Texas his senior year. He fell asleep at the wheel of the suburban driving home from Valdosta one night.
He introduced Matthew to the joys of having tv video games in the home. Tom Stayed with us briefly before he and Aunt Susan got married. Ryan stayed here a lot while he and Helen were dating. Matthew had a couple of friends who thought they lived here. All this has been preparing me for my career if Dad goes to the big guest house in the sky before me. I figure I can run a boarding house. I hear they are making a come back in these desperate financial times. I think I am qualified as long as I get a good accountant. ( That would be you, Rich) I can cook, I just happen to be a big softie as evidenced by this blog.
