Love You To God And Back

I am looking at a picture of a 3-year-old girl sitting on my lap at the cabin we once owned surrounded by the Mark Twain National Forest. As I look at more photos of her, my mind travels back to many special times we have had together. I am proud of the woman she now is but I miss that little girl sometimes. Grandma and I always told her, Love you to God and back. 

I look at other pictures of her playing in the swimming hole at the creek riding in a tire tube through the rapids into the waiting arms of her dad or her papaw. I look at pictures of her snorkeling and touching the fish that her dad helped her catch.

There was a time at that cabin when her and I carved a Halloween pumpkin with my rotary tool. We both had strings of pumpkin all over us from head to toe. We even carved deer tracks and other things into rocks and wood with that rotary tool. She and I even designed a little cabin we planned to do someday.

One of her favorite things was when she helped make her papaw’s famous cinnamon rolls with her brother. They would have flour, cinnamon, and butter all over them when finished. Grandma would help clean up the mess, and we would all enjoy the delicious treat.

We would sing Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah and other songs as she and I rode the ATV together down the cabin road. Her hair was always getting caught in my beard and she would smile. I love her smile.

One day at the cabin, she was bored as we were riding. I pulled the ATV over by some wild thistle with butterflies all over them. I handed her my camera and told her to take pictures of them. She liked doing that. She became so good at it she won several awards for her photography work. At the local fair, she did better than many of the adults.

We saw wildlife and found deer antlers and other neat stuff when we took ATV rides. Later, she and Dad would ride the cabin roads with a special dog named Memphis. He loved to ride on that ATV!

Anna loved it when her Wisconsin cousins came to visit. They climbed grapevines and hay bales, played in the creek and the waterfall, rode the ATVs, shot BB guns, cooked s-more’s over the campfire, and had fun.

We would all go to visit them in Wisconsin. Sometimes, she would stay with me and Grandma when Mom, Dad, and brother had to go home. The first night, she would always not feel good and say she had a leg ache. I knew it was a heartache because she missed Mom and Dad. I would hold her close and put her little leg between mine to try to keep it from hurting.

She was also into gymnastics. Grandma and I were always there cheering her on at the meets. Grandma also enjoyed taking her shopping to get the things she needed or wanted.

As she got older she started going deer hunting with us. She and Dad spent a lot of time hunting together. I hunted with her brother Hunter. Dad taught her well and proudly watched her harvest several deer. Dad and I agreed that the opening weekend of deer season was not near as much fun after they both went away to college and were not there with us anymore.

Her Bubby, as she called her brother, helped her get her first turkey. He also tried to teach her to hunt ducks. She also fished and sometimes would catch fish when the rest of us were not. What she liked most was being on the water with her family.

Grandma and I have always said that Anna could do anything she put her mind to. In high school she made the varsity cheerleading team as a freshman and continued that through her senior year. Grandma and I were always there to watch her, not the games. I don’t think we ever missed a time when she cheered. She became an excellent student, and won awards for her art and photography work in high school.

After graduating from high school, she decided to go to the same college Bubby was attending. She was an excellent student there too and enjoyed her time with her brother, his girlfriend, her family, and a special dog named Maverick.

Mom and Dad visited often and would bring her special rescue dog Max for a visit with his Anna. Grandma and I made the trip a few times too when they needed something. The other grandparents were there for her too.

A lot of who she is as an adult came from having a great Mom and Dad, as well as two sets of Grandmas and Papaws who loved her and were always there for her. She also knows that she is a child of God and He is always there for her.

Wherever Anna went when she was little, she always brought her favorite blankies. They were soft throws she liked to wrap up in. They smelled like home to her. I bet she still has some in the house where she and her husband Drew live in Texas that they share with Max and their new dog Dak.

Someday, they will start a family and make memories of their own. I hope she tells Drew and their children stories of swimming holes and cinnamon rolls, ATV rides, and hunting deer with Dad. I hope she tells them of trips with Mom to Florida beaches and trips to Wisconsin. I hope she tells them of special times at Silver Dollar City and Disney World. I hope she tells them about shopping with Grandma. Most of all, I hope she tells them about God and how much He loves them.

A tear runs down my cheek and falls onto the pictures I am looking at. I quickly wipe it off and start putting them all away. Thank you, Sis, for all the memories. Grandma and I will always love you to God and back.

We don’t see our kids and grandkids as much as we used to. They are all busy with their own lives now and creating memories of their own. I hope all of you who have read this made lots of memories or are making memories with your kids and grandkids. Someday, they may be all you have left.

We think of our family often. I am sure you do the same. Do not get so busy that it keeps you from showing how much you still love and appreciate your family and what they mean to you.  Tell them you love them to God and back!