Snake in the Laundry...

Ya'll are going to have to just bear with me a few months until I grasp this whole thing with death.  I will say the anxiety I have felt is unnerving...and I am so ready to feel better.  Tonight it is tough, so I am thinking back on funny memories to remain focused on times that were soooo good. 

My whole life I have been Mema to my grandparents.  No one else calls me that.  Dot, from the Dimestore, has always called me Misky but that is a whole other story.  ha 

No one else ever will say Mema to me again...one thing that bothers me the most.  No one else will ask me if I have changed the oil in my vehicle...or say to me they were ready to read about me in the obituaries because maybe I hadn't called when they wanted me to call. 

You see, DaddyDoyle and I were prankster partners...and MamaBill was our target.  There are so many things I have forgotten about...but now that their void is screaming at me night and day, I am remembering things that I have not thought about in years.  Losing both of them this past year has been tough... but in reality I always thought it would happen this way.  Sixty-four years is a long time to be together...I was very fortunate to have them for thirty-seven:)

Somewhere I acquired a wooden snake.  I have no idea where it came from but it was jointed so it moved just like a real live one.   I was taking in dirty laundry one day and threw the snake in the pile to carry in to show my grandaddy.  I went on about my busy schedule and totally forgot about it.  As the week went on, dirty clothes filled the basket.

MamaBill would go out in the garage and do laundry while she smoked.  On this particular day, I wasn't at their house.  But the phone call I received is one I will never forget.  Four letter words...one right after the other...about me and "Doyle" literally scaring her to death with that blankety blank blank blankety blank blank snake. 

She did my laundry. 

I have always wished I could have seen her reaction when she came across that thing.  I didn't even mean to do it but it made DaddyDoyle's day, despite the both of us having to take a cussin':) 

As scared as she was, I have to admit...I would have probably done the same. ha


PLASTIC SPIDER RING...

DaddyDoyle  pulled this one but let me in on it. 

He asked me for one of my plastic spider rings left over from Halloween stuff I had...with a big grin across his face.  I knew he was up to something, so of course I gave it to him.  He just put it in his pocket for later. 

My grandparents always sat in the living room together and read the newspapers in the evening.  They each had their own chairs...DaddyDoyle had dropped the spider ring in the floor in front of MamaBill's chair.
He pretended to be reading his paper as he  patiently waited for her to notice.

After a while, she yells..."Doyle, git that spider!"  She rolls up her newspaper with a vengeance and starts whacking away at that spider.  When she hit it the spider bounces up on her and she really starts beating it with her paper, becoming winded and yelling with every smack.

She finally realizes it is fake and looks over at DaddyDoyle in his chair, who is red-faced and laughing so hard he literally can not catch his breath.  She was so mad at him at the time... but later, we all had a good laugh about it when he was telling me how it all went down. 

I miss his laughter from his gut.  He had a distinct laugh that was contagious.  I will always remember the joy he had when he told me stories.  But most of all, I miss funny times like these when we "got" MamaBill.  Maybe I get my mischievousness from him, ya think. 

Thanks for enduring my stories...about two of the greatest people who ever lived.  I hope you feel the same way about your grandparents, friends.