1. She was born Jane Guillebeau. (No Guillebeau girl had a middle name until Leah and Bobbie came along... rumor was that Guillebeau was too hard to spell so the girls only needed one name.
2. Her daddy, Harvey Jordan Guillebeau, was quite a character. He died when I was in elementary school, but my favorite memory of him was coming to the den after Mary's good lunch and telling Leah, Bobbie, and me that there was a sick man in the house and he needed his sleep... Don't get under his window and wake him up! It was a joke... We loved to play under his window! He was the mayor, school board chairman, postmaster....and the husband of Rachel. She was his heart... I can tell by the way she says things about him....
3. Rachel Drinkard Guillebeau, Boo-Ma, won't ever die until I do.... I see myself daily acting the way she did... I ask questions, I tell you how I feel, and I don't hide my emotions very well. Mama is like that too...
4. Mama was a beauty queen in high school... when I turned 16 I couldn't wait to follow in her footsteps and be in Miss Lincoln County Green... she had Velda as her pineseedling...and I had Amberly.... my prayer these days is that Amberly will HURRY up and have a little girl and let Katie Britt carry on the legacy... but that also means she has to move... Mama loves a pageant.... And she is right on when calling a winner... I love to watch her at a pageant... you can tell by her facial expression if she thinks the girl will do well or not...
5. The funniest award that Mama got was the Betty Crocker homemaker award... at the time she couldn't boil water... but now... she cooks for a minimum of 14 people every Sunday... it's delicious every Sunday...and I work all week to get the pounds off that I gain on Sunday ...
6. As I sit here and think about my first memory of Mama... I remember standing up in the back of the car on the hump... riding down the road and Jim and Guille were going somewhere I wanted to go... she turned around and said, "We girls... we will go somewhere!"... From that day forward... I always got cards and flowers with "We Girls" on it.... Thank goodness I was the only girl... I wouldn't have liked sharing her with anyone else.
7. I see myself in Boo-Ma every day... but I also see Mama... I got her honesty... It didn't matter what I was involved in...where I was going... what I was doing... she was always honest... Examples include after winning pageants she would quickly remind me of something I didn't do well at... it was good for me... kept me balanced... she also told me several times that I looked like Endora on Bewitched because of my eye make-up.... I would get mad... and go straight to the bathroom and wipe it off....
8. 99.9% of the time she is right... or she has good intentions to be right... I only listen about 50% of the time and have to go back and change what I am doing or where I go... the older I get... I think the more I listen...
9. People say they would die for their children... She really would... I have seen her fighting mad for Jim, Guille, and me... she loves us... unconditionally...and even when Jim and I do things to make her mad... Guille is perfect...he never does... She still loves us!
10. Without a doubt... she gets Grandmother of the Year... even though none of them call her Grandmother... they call her Jane... I love it... when we lived in Greenville the lady at the Lancome counter loved it too... she would make people gather around to hear KB call her that...
11. One year when we went to HHI for vacation... KB asked her what that cream was she was putting on her face... Mama said to prevent wrinkles... the next night at the Old Oyster Factory KB said, "It ain't working Jane"... and Mama asked her what wasn't working... KB said, "The wrinkle cream"... what a laugh that was...
12. When we lived in Greenville she would call on Saturday morning and ask us what we were doing... I would say nothing.... come on up... and she would come and stay until dark ....
13. Mark has just come through and said his favorite memory of Mama is of the time that she let an ugly word slip... I had forgotten about that... I should have added that she would kill for Mark too... she actually likes him better than she does me...
14. She spoils me... she gives me things I don't need... and I love the months of Jan-April.... she will buy a random thing... not much... $5 or $10 and say it is for my birthday... makes Mark and KB mad because she gives me things for four months... I can't help it... I love a bargain.... got that from her...
15. I love her work ethic... she works still... she could retire and sit at home and cook us supper every night... and babysit in the afternoons... and run the children where they need to go... and fix breakfast and lunch for us... but she chooses to work instead... can't imagine why...
16. When I was little I would get so mad because she would stay in the bathroom for an hour... I totally understand that now... I do it too.... sometimes I sit there with my clothes on for some peace... and I only have two children... if you don't count Mark... she would always have the crossword puzzle and her Bible and devotion.... the apple falls right off the tree... the bathroom is the only place to get some peace... I learned that from her.... my children haven't learned it yet though... I'm still working on it...
17. She didn't let me run wild... except for that one time she let me go to a concert in Augusta... I wanted to be wild... I wanted to go and do all the time, but she always said no... And now... because of her... I can tell my children that I have never done drugs... never been arrested... never stolen anything (except this rug from Target when I had a carseat in the buggy and the girl didn't charge me)... but Mama was with me.... I didn't have a bad reputation... my reputation was I drove around town all the time... over, and over, and over... and spent a lot of money on gas.... not too bad...
18. Ben says his favorite memory of Jane is she always cooks his lunch and supper and whatever he wants... and that is true... she can have a meat and three and if says he wants something else... she fixes it...
19. She is hard to surprise.... she calls every day... always knows where we are and what we are doing... if there had been cell phones when I was in high school... wow...
20. I love hearing her talk about old times... like things she knows about people that make me love them more...or respect them a little less...
21. She and Daddy both have iphones... at 70... and they know how to work them... but she doesn't know how to pump gas... true southern lady....
22. She has enabled Daddy to do nothing in his life... when he dies... there will be men lined up out the door to marry her (they are my age).... they want her cooking, and cleaning, and organizing their lives... sad thing is.... she says "When Butch dies I ain't marrying anyone else because I ain't washing no other man's underwear!"
23. I got a lot of things from her... but not the organized Tupperware, closets, and towels... If you walk in my house... it looks neat... but don't open a closet....
24. The summer I was fourteen my friends and I would steal the extra car in the driveway everyday and ride around town until Mama and Daddy got home... that was the best summer... I loved it... the next summer... Mama had a hysterectomy and was home with me all summer... ugh... what a bore... she didn't let me drive at 15 and I was miserable...
25. Mama was with me the night before KB was born... she spent the night sitting up in a chair with BC's green coat wrapped around her... the next morning... she was with me when they told us of the scaare we would have delivering KB... I'm so glad she was there....
26. She gave up a week of staying with me when KB was born and let Mary come and stay with me... but when Ben was born she came and stayed a week... I was so proud I had not cried after his birth... the minute BC and Mawmaw came to pick her up... I started... I think I cried for about a week... it was awful...
27. One time I came home for work sick with a bad virus and called Mama to come to Greenville and help me because Mark was going out of town... when I got settled, Mark walked in and he had the same thing... Mama and Daddy came in and said they would just take KB home with them until we got better.... KB started selling insurance at about four months old...
28. Mama was a cheerleader in high school... we love to make her stand in the den and do the cheers she used to do... we laugh until we fall out of the chair... recently... I have had that chance with KB.... she laughs at what we used to do... I think I might video her doing the cheer... with her hands as a megaphone... might win some money off that one...
29. She doesn't forget anything... as a child... when people would hurt my feelings or make me mad... I would keep going and forget about it... she hasn't... will still bring things up... I'm finding myself more like that now that I have two babies of my own...
30. I have always felt she named Guille and me wrong... His name is horrible... I think that is why she likes him so much... Harvey Guillebeau Mattison... BUT... she should have named me Guille... and him Britt... that may be her only mistake in life... other than not letting me drive at 15.
31. I love her knack for catering... I mean... she even got to cater for Christina Aguilera... she didn't know who she was, but she did it... we call her all the time to cook for us at the BOE... she loves it... and it is so good... I'm trying to learn all that! We have always said she should write us a cookbook and do it in meals... what goes with what... from the meat and three to the dessert...
32. I should have mentioned earlier that she would kill for her grandbabies too... don't mess with them.... don't talk about them... don't say what they need to do... don't say what they don't need to do... the one thing I have learned from her... is the people who usually cross her... end up having a way worse time years later... so... I try not to cross her myself!
33. She loves to tell me what to do... you need to move this, move that, clean that out... her philosophy is there is always something to do to better yourself... she will be so mad when she realizes the hours it took me to write this... I could have spent my time doing something else....
34. I am fortunate... she gets along with Mark's mama... they love to get together and chat... Betty Carol agrees with Mama about Daddy... they talk about him all the time... I giggle listening to them!
35. My feelings get hurt when people ask us if we are sisters... I'm trying... I'm wearing the wrinkle cream, exercising, drinking water... doing everything I can not to look 70!
36. She has been infatuated with many men in her life... Elvis was her first man... she said she used to sit on the porch waiting on him to come by and pick her up....
37. When I was real little... it was Robert Redford... I remember a yellow t-shirt with his picture on it that she loved in a store one time...
38. When I was in high school she moved on to Patrick Swayze... Coach Campbell sent her flowers on her birthday from him... she had a poster of him in the closet... and she knew every line of Dirty Dancing...
39. She was nice enough to drive older ones to Augusta... She took Ina and Faye to see George Jones and this character named Vince Gill opened... It was love at first sight... and she hasn't stopped loving him... we have seen him so many times I can't count it... She has stalked his house in Nashville... skipped out on my cousin's wedding reception to see him at the Opry... and let me dance to his song at my wedding!
40. She has done something right.... she has three children who have graduated from college... we all have jobs... we have normal spouses (as normal as a country girl from Pembroke and basketball player from Elberton...along with a boy from McCormick for a son-in-law can be).... she has beautiful grandchildren who are smart, outgoing, and know that she loves them more than life itself... I'm going to do everything I can to be just like that!
41. Mark and I are lucky that she has been willing to babysit our children when they were too little to go on trips... and now... we love her going with us wherever we go... she makes up our beds... feeds the children breakfast in bed... and keeps trucking even when she is too tired to move! NYC and San Antonio and San Diego were so much fun!
42. KB's favorite memory of Jane is trying to understanding in technology and fussing about people's phones who say "Droid" when a message comes through....
43. Ben also wants to add that Jane always tells him she loves him...
44. She knows better... she knows she shouldn't curse... but sometimes she slips...we all do... but we used to have a white cat that stood at the door and always wanted to come inside (due to Guille and me)... When the cat would run through... she would grit her teeth and tell the cat "Get your A$$$$$ out of this house!"... and the cat would go to the door... she was special like that... hates animals.. but they listen to her!
45. One of my favorite wedding pictures is of me and this cat... she rolled her eyes and fussed the entire time and said the cat was going to ruin my dress... P.S.... she likes to tell our cat that too!
46. She has six grandchildren... two in high school... one in middle school... and three in elementary school... they are all involved in things... she gives up many of her nights to be there to watch them... it makes her mad because Daddy doesn't go to many things... and she says they love him more than they love her...
47. I should mention that she also treated Amberly and Ward like her own too... we loved them as babies... still do... Daddy and I would go pick them up at night and let her take care of them!
48. I can't name the times my children call and tell her they want something and within five minutes it is here... she never stops... she doesn't have a stop button... or pause...
49. The perfect picture of us on Sundays... thankful for her cooking and cleaning and letting us put our feet on the coffee table....
67. One day... I hope I have in-laws and grandchildren like her... she treats us all the same... sometimes they get better treatment... but that's okay... they have learned she is honest... and they respect her for that...
68. I get a lot of my ways from her... I like to think all her good qualities have been passed to me... but then I get afraid of having to cook Sunday lunch....
69. My final memory to write about is another way I don't think I can be like her... when Jim graduated and used to go to Augusta on the weekends for fun... he and his friends would come in at two and three in the morning and wake up Mama and Daddy... they would tell Mama they were hungry and she would fix them something to eat.... maybe she was thankful they made it home safely... I just hope I can provide my children with the love, the advice, and the precious memories that she has given me....
70. Happy birthday Mama... I'm sure that many more memories will come to mind... and I am hoping this will spark memories of you for others as well... I hope they will take the time to comment on the post and tell you their favorite memory.... Have a great birthday.... can you pick KB and Ben up from basketball tomorrow, get them supper, and help them with their homework? Just teasing!
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