I made a blackberry pie today.... for some reason I've been thinking about blackberry pie for about a week now, and I finally decided to make one. Let me tell ya, it took me waaaayyyy back. I remember when I was a little girl in very rural South Carolina picking wild blackberries with my cousins in the woods. Somehow I never had a basket or a bucket like the other kids so I'd end up making my shirt into a little kangaroo pouch and loading up! After what seemed like an eternity of picking berries I'd take them home, put them in a bowl and hide my then horribly stained shirt behind the couch so my mama wouldn't see it...lol. I thought I was sooo slick...lol...and I can so see that same spirit in the twins. My mom would never get angry about it though, and she'd always make a few pies from the blackberries and we'd eat it with vanilla ice-cream on top. Not sure what made me think of that, much less write about it. I guess its just nice to think of times gone by. Hmmm, nice doesn't seem quite right...maybe bittersweet (kinda like blackberry pie). I can't help but feel sad that my daddy and grandma have "gone on" (that's how my grandmama would have said it).

My grandma, Leila Mae Pollock, was one of the most amazing women I've ever known. I mean really, really amazing. She's been gone for about two years now which is crazy to think about! She was SUCH a character! I could probably do an entire one woman show based on just her. Add my great-grandma, my mom and my aunts and you have material for a lifetime..lol!

And then of course E. I haven't written about him in a minute but he's in my thoughts daily. Wow, how I miss that man. It's crazy because more than anything he was like my best friend. He knew more about me than anyone in the whole world and STILL he loved me soooo much...talk about a miracle..lol! We had truly seen the best and worst of each other and still love overwhelmingly prevailed. I think I'm just beginning to understand how rare and beautiful that is. For someone to know you...the REAL you, good & bad, and love you as you are is truly extraordinary. I am tremendously blessed to have experienced that, even if only for a short time. Bittersweet...I wish he'd gotten a chance to taste my blackberry pie.