Labor Day weekend of 1985 my mother and I were visiting Mamatoo (my maternal grandmother) in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. We had such a lovely visit, watching various tv programs, including the Jerry Lewis Telethon, Fantasy Island and The Love Boat (to name a few). We also went down to the Mississippi Coast and had lunch at Morrison's Cafeteria (Mamatoo loved going there) followed by shopping in the mall. Little did I know that this would be my last real visit with my grandmother, as she passed on in the spring of 1986.
The night before we were set to return home to Baton Rouge, we were all watching the weather. There was a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico! Of course, I tried to convince Mom that we shouldn't drive in that weather, and should stay with Mamatoo until all the bad rain and wind had passed. She wouldn't hear it, and early the next morning we loaded up the Huge Gray Van (this was a really big van from the 80s) and headed for home. My last memory of Mamatoo (before she went into the hospital) was of her standing in the kitchen doorway with the screen door ajar.. waving a white checkered dish cloth as we backed out of the driveway.
The drive home was interesting, to put it mildly. We fared well until we neared Columbia, Mississippi. That was when it got so dark.. and the wind was blowing so hard Mom had a really difficult time keeping the van on the road. I can still see her, hugging the steering wheel.. so focused on the road. I tried to convince her to turn around and go back.. at least to Lake Serene, where my Aunt and Uncle lived, but she had made up her mind that we were going home. Garbage cans and small pine trees and various other shrubbery had control of the road and Mom just kept plugging through. When we got to McComb, we stopped for a small break before continuing on. Finally we made it home. What normally took three hours to drive took nearly all day.
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