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So, I'm back from deepest, darkest South Carolina where I spent about five days languishing in the grip of my family.
Actually, as trips home go, this one wasn't that bad. I think I only had the urge to throttle a family member maybe once or twice. That's got to be a new kind of record.
My Mom is doing well. She's past 60 now, and still working full time, because it keeps her mentally active. She's a big fan of suduko, which I still don't get, and plays Bejeweled like a fiend. When she picked me up at the airport, though, the first thing that struck me was just how much she looks like my Grandma.
My mom is actually living in the house that she was born in. After my grandparents died, their kids sold it for a few years. During that time, my mom lived down the road and wound up in Oklahoma of all places, before moving back to South Carolina and buying the house back. It's been renovated, but the overall structure of the place remains the same. The back yard, which I remember as being kept fairly pristine, now looks like a jungle. A banana bush planted in the side yard has evolved into a huge tree and there are tall cedars growing in the back, where the old garden used to be. The big pecan tree is still standing and had shed most of its leaves when I was there. Squirrels skittered up and down the branches, collecting nuts and being annoying in the way only squirrels can be.
The thing that really struck me about the house was the state it was in. As I said, my Mom works full time and when she gets home she doesn't waste a lot of energy on cleaning the place up. She's sort of unintentionally adopted the philosophy that 'clean enough' is better than 'clean.' I'm surprised to be able to say that my house is probably cleaner than my mother's.
Actually, as trips home go, this one wasn't that bad. I think I only had the urge to throttle a family member maybe once or twice. That's got to be a new kind of record.
My Mom is doing well. She's past 60 now, and still working full time, because it keeps her mentally active. She's a big fan of suduko, which I still don't get, and plays Bejeweled like a fiend. When she picked me up at the airport, though, the first thing that struck me was just how much she looks like my Grandma.
My mom is actually living in the house that she was born in. After my grandparents died, their kids sold it for a few years. During that time, my mom lived down the road and wound up in Oklahoma of all places, before moving back to South Carolina and buying the house back. It's been renovated, but the overall structure of the place remains the same. The back yard, which I remember as being kept fairly pristine, now looks like a jungle. A banana bush planted in the side yard has evolved into a huge tree and there are tall cedars growing in the back, where the old garden used to be. The big pecan tree is still standing and had shed most of its leaves when I was there. Squirrels skittered up and down the branches, collecting nuts and being annoying in the way only squirrels can be.
The thing that really struck me about the house was the state it was in. As I said, my Mom works full time and when she gets home she doesn't waste a lot of energy on cleaning the place up. She's sort of unintentionally adopted the philosophy that 'clean enough' is better than 'clean.' I'm surprised to be able to say that my house is probably cleaner than my mother's.
