On Friday I left with Kent and my mom to spend the weekend in Havana {Havana is just a few miles north of Tallahassee- when my mom lived there the population was about 1,000 and it hasn't grown much since then} and Tallahassee. My mom and her older sister Sibby put my grandmother {Grandmammy} in assisted living in Tallahassee in January 2008 and she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. We went to visit her and go through the house to try to make a dent in all the STUFF. They built their home in Havana over 60 years ago. That is where my mom and her 2 sisters grew up. It is the house where my Grandpappy died 15 years ago and it is the house that Grandmammy didn't want to leave. It's also the house where I remember many Thanksgivings at the "kid's table" in the living room.
This was my first time visiting Grandmammy since she's been in the assisted living. I lasted all of about 2 minutes with her before I lost it, which then caused my mom to lose it. She had no idea who we were and didn't talk much. We didn't stay very long the first day we went to see her...it was just too hard. The second day she said a little more. We asked how she is doing and she said "Oh I'm pretty good. My daddy's taking care of me. He's a doctor". Hmm...her daddy certainly was a doctor. Maybe she does see him? Who knows. Grandmammy will be 90 on Thursday. She doesn't know that either.
Going through the house is quite the task...and very sad. There is so much stuff and the house just needs to be completely gutted. Kent worked his butt off cleaning off the porch and scrubbing the kitchen floors and counters. Me, my mom and my aunt Sibby kept getting sidetracked by pictures and memories. It's really hard not to. Now, on to some pictures!
This is what the trees look like around there...so pretty.
Here's the house...lots of memories here.
Meet Dotty Bowen. This is my mom's younger sister. I'm not sure how old she is in this picture, but this is the picture of her that was always up in the family room. She lived in the house up until she died. She died from an eating disorder when she was 35 and I was in the 4th grade. She's the reason I am a therapist specializing in eating disorders.
Meet Dr. and Mrs. Counsel Maxwell. These are grandmammy's parents. He had a 60-year career as a doctor and delivered over 7,000 babies. She was in the first graduating class at FSU...there were only 2 or 3 of them.
This is the house in Calvary, GA {about 9 miles north of Havana} where Grandmammy grew up. It is a bed and breakfast now and apparently is haunted. It's on acres and acres of land with pecan trees.
Here's the living room in Grandmammy's house. It's the only room in the house that looks the same. All the others are a mess with boxes and stuff everywhere. Walking in this room is like stepping back in time.
I'm tempted to take this chair and recover it...I think it has potential.
Not so much this one.
I was able to get some stuff from Grandmammy's house. The first thing is this cedar chest. It looks like a dresser, but it's actually a cedar-lined chest. This along with the mirror pictured below it came from my great aunt. Grandmammy got them after she died about 15 years ago. My great aunt Cat's husband owned an antique store and that is where these came from.
I was also able to get 12 place settings of Johann Haviland china. This came from my great grandparent's house in Calvary. I love it! The first picture is one of the serving pieces and below is a picture of some of it stacked up.
This is just a little oil lamp I grabbed that needs to be cleaned really well.
This is the cedar chest that Grandmammy was given when she married Grandpappy in 1941.
And I'm done! If you're still reading you're probably bored to tears!
