Marlee's Life Was Busy While Grandma Lu Was On Vacation

 Grandma Lu opened the door with a big smile on her face. "Well, my goodness, Marlee. I had no idea you were coming over. Does Grandma B know you are here? Oh good. I'll be glad to see her. Well, come on in. How about a cookie? Great. Now sit down and tell me all about what's been going on in your life while Fran and I were on vacation.  I knew you were going to have your tonsils out. How did that go? Oh, well that happens, but your sore throat is all better now, isn't it? Just think you hopefully won't get sore throats and sick any more. You know my little girl was only four years old when she had hers out. That's been over fifty years ago. Time sure flies by. I can remember that day like it was yesterday. Would you like a glass of water with that cookie? Great.

 No I haven't started another story yet. I've been busy unloading the camper and getting things put away. Sure, I don't see why I couldn't add your picture to a story. That will make it a good memory for you. I still have my daughter's certificate that says she is a member of the Tonsils out club. I probably keep things too long, but they are fun to look at.

Did you and Whitlee go to the Fall Festival? I heard that it was a good one. Your daddy had men sign up for a beard contest? I bet that was fun. Did you go on rides? They are fun aren't they? Did your friends go too? Hopefully, Grandma B has some pictures to show me when she gets here. Oh I see her coming down the sidewalk now.

Grandma Lu gave her friend a big hug and told her to sit while she got her a cup of coffee and a cookie. "So tell me everything that's been going on since I left. Marlee told me a lot about her tonsillectomy and the festival. Oh good. I love pictures. Let me see.

Look at Paisley's funnel cake! Oh my. Those are my very favorite. The float is wonderful. Lady Tigers  celebrating their one hundred fifty years. Imagine that!

This is the month and also next month for fall festivals all over the place! You know Stockton had it's annual Walnut Festival too. I think it was the 62nd. I'm not for sure. But they had beautiful weather. Margaret had her boys there. She sent me a picture. Just a minute. There. They are getting so big too. They looked like they had a ball watching the parade.

You know Marlee, there is another little girl whose name is Marlee in my stories. You might have seen her picture. Her little brother just had his tonsils and adenoids out too. He is doing very well. You kids are tough. He especially likes slushies!

B look. Face painting is a thing isn't it? I don't ever remember face painting when my kids were little. Look this is Regan and here's Myla. It looks like fun.

You know, Marlee, I've been thinking. When I was little and even when I was a grownup there never was anyone I knew with the same name as mine. There aren't very many Marlees either. I think it would be fun to put you and the other Marlee in the same town in Texas. What do you think? She gave Marlee a hug and laughed, "My name hasn't always been Grandma Lu. My real first name is LuAnne. I was named after my two grandmothers.  I'm just about ready to start writing again. Okay. I think next week the two Marlee's just might meet each other in a grocery store. Grocery stores are always a fun place to meet new people. Maybe they will end up being friends. Okay then. How about another cookie? Don't mind if I do.

Grandma Lu Strolls Down Her Own Memory Lane

 Grandma Lu looked lovingly at her computer and whispered, "Not yet. We still have a lot of unloading of the camper to do. Mercy it takes a lot to load and unload a camper. But I sure do love it. It's just like a little house that we can take anywhere we want to. The high school reunion was such fun and of course, I got to see probably for the last time my home town of Cherokee, Iowa. Cherokee has changed a great deal since I was young, not for the best in my opinion. It still was fun to look at the main street and "see" my old hangouts like the Soda Grille and Penny's. So many places are gone, but my memories are still pretty fresh even at my age. She looked at her phone laying on the end table and said, "Okay, just for a minute. I took a lot of pictures, but probably not enough. Oh yes, the very last picture I took. Just look at the fog hovering over Spring Lake the morning that we left the camp ground. It was beautiful with the sun shining and Fran and I nice and warm in our new warm clothes. We had forgotten that Iowa and South Dakota sometimes gets a might chilly this time of year. So we did a bit of shopping; also included were Bing candy bars. The very best treat only made in Iowa!

She smiled as she thought of her time there with her friends from school and a life time friend and her husband. Of course, there has to be hiccups along the way to make memories. Oh yes, there were hiccups. No Wi fi at least not enough to run anything but this little phone. No television, no I Pads. I realized how addicted I had become to the technical world and wasn't happy about that. Of course, after grilling steaks with friends we soon found out we had no hot water! Yes that was a bill I wasn't expecting, but so very happy my little town had a RV repair shop that made house calls. I guess in our new camper the water heater needs to be plugged in! That was an expensive Oops.

There were so many memories that swirled about the cemetery as I decorated my family's graves. I remember the 'no excuse to miss Decoration Day' when I was a teenager. It was a given that we remember those who paved the way for us and that we respect their legacy. That is a tradition that is difficult to do now because of the miles and our ages.

Then on to South Dakota. We took backroads all the way from Cherokee to Flandreau, South Dakota. Oh how I loved it. This little town reminded me of this, and that little town reminded me of that. I was constantly giving Fran a personal history lesson for three hours. He didn't even mind, because he had never been there before. He got to see buffalo grazing in the fields as well as pipestone showing its cream and pink crowns as it had done for centuries. He had no knowledge of that of course, so I proceeded to teach and tell story after story. The Pipestone rock is soft and can only be "harvested" by American Indians that are enrolled in a tribe recognized by the U.S. government. The pink stone is believed by some to represent the blood of their ancestors and that the  land is a sacred place to all tribes. The smoke from the pipes these folks carve from pipestone is believed to carry their prayers to the heavens. Oh there's my Mike standing by the rushing water and pipestone rocks. That was taken about four years ago.

Oh how I remember the house we bought in Flandreau. It had pipestone dust all over the walls and floors. American Indians had lived there before us and made their prayer pipes there. It was not easy to wash away. It took a lot of family members to help clean before it could be painted.

There's pictures of Carolyn and Gary. We hadn't seen each other for so many years. The last time was at my children's father's funeral, but like she said it seemed like yesterday. We laughed and reminisced the hours away. Oh how good the banana sour cream cake was that she had made for Gary's birthday. I must get that recipe.

Then trip to another cemetery to decorate my late husband's grave. I whispered, "This is only goodbye for now."

On the way back home we took the interstate. The memories I had for those roads were of going to Sioux Falls shopping while the guys watched their football games. There were hurried trips back and forth to Sioux Falls or to see my family in Sioux City, Iowa to celebrate holidays or in times of illness. Mainly my only thoughts of those trips was to keep my speed within the 80 MPH speed limit. Oh I did find myself going a bit over occasionally. She chuckled to herself when she thought of the "boat" of a car that would go as fast as she wanted it to.

 I caught myself frequently looking through Fran's window thinking that we were driving parallel to those old back roads that held so many memories for me. It was a bittersweet trip for sure. 

As Grandma Lu put her phone down she looked at one last picture and grinned. "Not too many people can say they attended their sixtieth high school reunion in their home town. A town that her ancestors helped to settle so many years ago. It was such fun, but now it's time to sweep out the camper and plan next year's trip."

As she got out her broom and dustpan she heard a knock on the door. One of her favorite little girls had come to visit!

Grandma Lu Reminisces And Pats Her Computer Goodbye For Awhile

 "That little girl isn't my real granddaughter, but I worry about her like she is. She will be just fine, but she's so little." She shook her head as she headed back to her computer. She saw the cowboy hat laying on the chair and grinned. "I have such fun writing stories for Marlee and now her little sister. Of course, over the years she has had lots of children and grownups join her in her adventures. It's been such  fun. And Marleewood! Now that was the perfect place for making friends, getting your hair done and even your picture taken. Marlee had her own cooking show there. It had a huge community room where her friends and parents and grandparents would sometimes listen to Grandma Lu tell stories. Oh and the parties they had! The best room that it had though was the Quiet Room. Oh what a perfect place. A place with a bay window, book shelves and of course, an easy chair to just rest and unwind. Oh how I loved Marleewood. However, things change, the world changes as well as the people. Folks get old and children grow up, just look at Marlee. She was sixteen months old and in a stroller for her first story. Since then she has been on one adventure after another. Now she is starting a new adventure of her own, not one that I write for her. She's in school now and she will make friends and together they will have their own stories to share. 

Grandma Lu sat down in front of her computer and thought, "I really don't have time to write another chapter for Marlee today. Fran is anxious to get the camper ready for our trip. I guess I am too. It will be such fun to go see the "kids" I graduated from high school with over sixty years ago. I can't forget to put my year books in the camper." 

She went to the cupboard where she kept her year books and her ancient scrapbooks and grinned. "Not a wrinkle on that eighteen year old face in those days. Oh well, I'm sure my classmates have a few wrinkles too."

"Okay computer. I'll be back in a couple of weeks and we will get back to the Next Generation on the Double D Dude Ranch." She shut her computer down, patted  the edge of her desk and thought, "Okay, old girl. Get packin'. You just might have an adventure of your own!"