Fredia and Sidney

My aunt Fredia and uncle Sidney have a special place in my life. They watched Matthew and me on the rare occasions that Mama and Daddy went away for a weekend when we were young.

Fredia once took me to the ShopRite despite the fact that I had a black eye from falling into the fireplace hearth. When Fredia picked me up at the house and saw my shiner, she joked, "What happened? Did your mama hit you?" At the ShopRite, when a lady asked what happened to me, without missing a beat I replied, "Mama hit me." The lady looked at my "Mama" Fredia in horror as she left.

Despite that, Fredia stuck around. Matthew and I loved to play in the branch that ran behind their house. In the summer, we could eat strawberries from her garden. Sidney took us flying in his planes. Matthew and I "oversaw" the construction of her house, choosing "our" bedrooms in her home. When the branch was dammed to make a pond, it was the fish that drew us there.

When I was crying on my wedding day because guests were entering the sanctuary while I was being photographed, it was Fredia who came over and comforted me then helped me get out of the sanctuary. Whenever Dave and I make it back to Georgia, Fredia and Sidney always come see me at my parents' house.

I hope that Dave and I can create just have the pleasant memories with Hayden as he gets bigger.