And then I was 10

This is another old picture from my childhood. It was taken on Easter after we came from church in the town of Marion. This was taken at my grandfather's house on the front lawn. Can you figure out which one is me? ::hint:: I'm the tallest (still are) of the grandchildren. The one in the black suit is my cousin Chris. I haven't spoken to him in quite awhile, or his two sisters beside him. His sister Noretha is the tallest girl on the left, and his sister Norissa is the one in the center. My sister Chandra is in our grandmother Hattie's hands) It's amazing how we grow, and how far we have come over the years. Everyone in that picture except me has children.

My grandmother has since passed now. I used to be scared of her LOL. If she told me to do something, I'd do it. Over the years I realized that her mouth was scarier than her bite. She was a nice woman, and she really cared about us. She used to babysit my sister and I when we were little. Funny thing is she used to baby sit my sister Ablah too. When she passed my sister Ablah said that I didn't know how she felt, because grandma never babysat me. Well guess what, guess how wrong you were that time sis.

Hattie isn't really our blood relative, but she is our grandmother. She was there for us throughout our childhood. My mother's mom died when she was very young. I wish I could have met her, but for all intended purposes Hattie was our Grandmother.

Behind us there is a giant rock or a boulder if you will. You can see a little bit of it in the picture. I can guarantee you that my grandfather never expected his grandkids or his own children to make that rock a favorite spot to hang out. I don't know the exact reason, but my mom said that there used to be a curb over there. I used to sit on it a lot whenever we went to visit my grandfather. To the left of us there is a tree that had a swing on it. One day my cousin Chris was swinging on a swing set, and somehow he managed to hurt himself pretty badly on it. So my grandfather told my uncles to tear it down, so they did. Then one day we came back to visit and my grandfather had a make shift swing attached to the tree. Hey don't laugh, it worked, and it was fun.

over to the right of us there is the "woods". We were forbidden to go in there, because it was dangerous. However broke the rule once and my uncle Junior took my cousin Chris, James, and myself in there to see an old shed. I can still remember what it looks like, but I don't remember the purpose. It was fun though, I got to explore somewhere that I never been. It was pretty cool, and fun. Although I can remember my grandfather yelling at us to come from out of there. My grandfather's back yard was huge one of our family members whacked a ball pretty far and we had to run all of the way over to a tractor to find the ball. I remember this, because I wanted to ride the damn thing, but never got a chance too. We used to play chase, hide and seek, and tag. We even played softball back there. I just remembered that there was a chicken pen too. Those things could be noisy sometimes. It was pretty fun. I only wish that he owned it. I haven't seen the place since I was like 13 or 14. I miss the country...sigh! There is an interesting story about my grandfather. I have to get more details and then maybe I will write about him. He still owes me a trip to Philadelphia, that is if I ever get over my anxiety.