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Close to Nowhere
By Linda Jones School bells are ringing Meredith,
our oldest granddaughter, came home from her favorite place in the
entire world Saturday, July 31. This year, she spent two weeks at Camp
Lake Stephens, the Methodist church camp just outside Oxford. I don’t
think she missed us at all! She came home looking
taller even. She did hug her mom when we picked her up, but it was
embarrassing. And when I wanted a hug, well! Just like when Dana and
Kris were teenagers though, she did allow me to buy her a camp T-shirt. When
Kris was a teenager, I wasn’t allowed to speak to him if we were out
shopping where any of his friends might be -- he could ask me for money
though... Remy, the “baby” came home from
visiting my niece and great-niece in Heber Springs, Ark., Saturday
also. My niece Sister, her daughter Emily, who, at 14, is two weeks
younger than her “older” cousin Meredith; my nephew Gene (Uncle Bubba!
I still can’t call him Gene) and two of his four children, Bailey, 14
-- only a couple months younger than Meredith and Emily and his “baby”
Trent, 12 -- the same age as Remy, all came to visit. We
never saw the three teenage girls. They did pop in and eat spaghetti
with us, but then they vanished again. Remy and Trent both like video
games, etc. and get along extremely well together. They stayed in the
living room, playing on Nintendo DS’s. Mere, Em
and Bailey were discussing how they could get together again -- but --
Meredith and Remy start school August 5! That is the date of this paper! Their
mom and I have been attempting to school clothes shop for them, but
especially for Meredith, who has gotten taller and is (gasp!) a really
picky teenager (is there another kind?). It’s been hard. To
begin with, there are no school pants in Mere’s size in the entire
Marshall County area. To be fair, there are none in Oxford, Olive
Branch or Southaven either. To be even fairer, there aren’t any “in
stock” if we can find them online. The girls’ mom
and I are scouring area stores trying to find school stuff. We’ve known
for a while that school started Aug. 5, but that seemed such a long
time away, before Mere left for camp and Remy left for Heber Springs. This week, it’s time for pencils and notebook paper, binders and backpacks, ink pens and rulers. Almost makes me wish I was going to schoool...
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