Sharing in Sharon

So you know those small towns you hear about with one stop light, doors stay unlocked, and everybody knows your name? Well, that's Sharon, SC and where David's family lives. His parents retired there after 30+ years in the busy life Tampa and his brother moved there when he got married. It's like Mayberry. Life is simple there. WalMart is a 40 minute drive. gasp. And being that I was at our WalMart yesterday, I wanted to run and hide back in Mayberry. There is nothing simple about WalMart during the holidays. (mack truck running me over)

So, a few weeks ago, we packed up our suitcases and took Lily's 2nd flight to Mayberry. She couldn't believe she was so close to airplanes which she recently became infatuated with and can hear them miles away like she's in the army and her job is to spot overhead interference. If we're outside and she sees one, she freezes, her face lights up and she points saying "pane", then watches it intently until it's out of sight. She'll wave and say "bye-bye" like the passengers were all waving back. So she was pretty happy to be this close to her panes. She sat up on these chairs like she was one of the passengers waiting to board.


When we got off the plane, it was late, she was tired, in that tired half-asleep/half-awake not wanting to miss anything, super snuggly as she just changed into her fleece jammies... as soon as she saw Duane, who she hasn't seen in over a year, she took one look at him and put out her tired arms for some cuddles and hellos. I was almost run over by a car when I passed out from the sweetness. Here's Duane and Lily during playtime the next day.



And talk about sweetness. How about seeing little 20 month old Lily with her 97 year old great grandma. Sweet Thelma was playing peek-a-boo with her, stared and smiled nonstop when she was in the room and was even seen rocking it out next to the fish jukebox that plays "don't worry, be happy" while the fish dances mouths the words at a touch of a button. Guess who pressed that button 4,000 times?


The first day, she had the stomach bug, throwing up, sleeping extra long, but once she was over that and passed it on to daddy a few days later (who passed it to Dottie, who passed it to almost everyone after we left), but once she was over that she wanted to play outside and their outside backyard is about as big as my 5 neighbors backyard...combined. They don't mess around in Sharon with their lot lines. As in you can't see your neighbor's house unless you use your binoculars.

Here she is yearning to go outside...

Rusty the dog wanted to go too, but wasn't allowed so when I said "no, Rusty, you stay inside" she backed me up by pointing and waving her hand doing sign language for "no-no"....thanks Lil for having my back :) These two were fast friends and got along great (unless he stole her food then the serious waterworks took effect)



but once we got outside she didn't know what do with herself once she has all this open land to explore...

Lily loves to overstuff her arms with things to hold and walk around. She denies my many offers to help her hold anything. The other day she had full hands wanting to bring everything outside and she wanted to bring a book too, but had no room so she put it in her mouth. She used her mouth as a holding option. Hilarious. Here she is, once again, double fisted while playing. One of David's favorite pictures he wanted as his computer wallpaper at work. awww




after playing ball, we decided to do what is normal in most neighborhoods. We went to visit the neighbor and feed their horses. What you don't have horses living next door to you? Running wild and free? What? They don't lean over your common fence and want some carrots? In Mayberry they do.





and boy did she love being around her sweet, doting cousins Allison and Anna who never let her out of their sight when they were around...


then she took a little break, sighed and sat down on the step like "phew, this mayberry is wiping me out, i need a little time to myself"



so we went inside for none other than another story...Grandma made a special trip to the library before our visit so these were all new books which she loved...thanks Gma :)



So Lily and I were reading on the couch when she abruptly left me mid-story and decided she wanted to set up camp alone with her baby. She kicked me to the curb. Even said "bye-bye" as she was getting down. At least she was polite about it. ha
I didn't know what she was doing at first, but she went to the other clear end of the couch, tried her darndest to get up on the almost-too-high couch, sat down, got situated, re-situated, organized the books in a tall pile like we do before a reading marathon, made sure baby could see properly and read away. Book after book. She's doing the ItsyBitsy Spider on the left and will do the hand motions anytime she sees a spider in any book. She even claps for herself when she's through. Glad she has good self esteem. All this reading made her stop for a drink for herself then shared it with her baby. I truly don't know what to do with myself when I see things like this happen before my eyes. Silly little moments like this make me happier than I've ever known possible.



Later we went to visit Santa, which she's not a fan of from afar, I can't imagine what she'll do when she is asked to sit in his lap. Santa arrived via fire truck with sirens galore so that might have something to do with the fear. That or the fact that he's a big man in a red suit with white beard, hearty and deep voice that she's supposed to love. Not so much. You have to win affection from Lily - she doesn't give it out to any man who throws a candy cane at her and any ole' "Ho-Ho-Ho" to her. ha
(Thanks Skye for letting us borrow your adorable cozy sweater:)


Lily has replaced her love for the swings with a love to go down the slide and bobs her head while pretending to count to 3 with us and says "do" when we get to two, smiling all the way.




I thought this picture was cute of Lily playing chase, but didn't realize until later David was in the picture because she's actually running from him in her favorite game of all time...chase. If only you could hear the belly laughs...
(are you kidding me with the cute polo sweatsuit from skye? omg.)




then back inside for what? you guessed it, more books with baby...



On our last day, Duane scored some serious football tickets to the Bucs-Panthers game. Like 40 rows up on the 50 yard line. Like $350 tickets. each. for free. I don't know how he did it, but we were sure thankful he did. The only problem is that we were rooting for the Bucs while Duane and Sandy rooted for the Panthers. I trash-talked like I knew what I was talking about. So instead, I took the tagline from Sam's license plate and took a pretty picture with my camera phone.




and Lily stayed back rooting from the warmth of the house in her bucs jersey (thanks Kelle) that she wears every Sunday win or lose. Mostly lose :(




wait until you hear about this chair. I've seen it 100 times, but never knew it was Grandma Lilley's (no, not a typo, that's how she spelled her name) chair as a child. Then Dottie used it as a child. Um, hello meaningful rocking chair. Umm, hello, hello? She was named after this Grandma and now she's rocking in it? Someone grab a tissue stat. And then find a UPS driver to get it to FL statter. yup, that's a word. (thanks Peyton for the warm and yummy polka dotted outfit)



This picture just makes me laugh. Can you believe Lily threw the bucket this far? She's a wild woman. (pause while you scroll down)

actually the bucket is stationary, sitting upside down atop a pole in the ground that didn't show up in the picture so it looks like Lily has quite the arm like her daddy. teehee (oh and thanks again Skye for the cutest vest I've ever seen on Lily - can you tell lil doesn't have many winter clothes-ha)

So all in all, it was a great trip where Lily was lapped up in love, didn't know where she was, but didn't care because she knew she was with important people who think she's pretty special too. I don't like to call David's family "David's family" because they truly feel like mine too, but we just met later in life; like we were reunited in my 20s. Thank you for being you. We always feel at home when we're together and this not so little person is the glue in all of this that ties it altogether. (looks like she's gonna take a bow)

life is good.