'women went'...

…has been an often used hashtag all week on twitter (by me & others) in anticipation of something very special coming up. but what could that be, you ask? instead of just blurting it out, i have to start at the beginning, or the ash way of storytelling. (don’t you just love that about me?)

you know how you have family, then there’s people that you’ve always known that treat you like family, & then friends that you’ve grown up with & called cousin because they felt like, well, family? sooo, i have been very honored to have all these characteristics rolled into a single small town in south carolina.

in the past, i had mentioned that when my mom was first married & had my brother, charles, she had ended up in a new place. after her divorce from hubby #1, she met hubby #2. this was my sister’s father, who unfortunately passed at a very young age; when my sis was around 2 years old. the good news (i have a point, i promise), is that with my sister’s birth father (my pops has raised her as his own her whole life), came a bounty of sisters & brothers & aunts & uncles & whew…basically, a town (not even joking) of people to visit & share experiences & christmas cards with for over 40 years (sorry, ames…ha!)

this little place…take a left at the single caution light; don’t go too far past the post office & old train station or you’ll miss it…is mine & my sister’s beloved yemassee.  now, don’t get me wrong, i’m not being snobby or uppity like i’m some big city girl when i say that it’s small, but that’s how i remember it. actually, as a child, i could only remember about 4 main streets; aunt linda’s house (next door to rose & stanley…& playing with tracy & travis; & chrissy who lived behind them), colin’s filling station (uncle jackie’s house across the street & visiting aunt patsy on the adjacent corner), uncle mack’s little apartment (gosh, i miss him), & what every child usually remembers…the candy…from one mr simon jinx!

oh, how we adored visiting yemassee. so loved & welcomed & i got to tag along as the little sister, treated like i was one of the grands/nieces/cousins. i didn’t realize it then , but now, looking back, i think about how awesome that was. i only knew of them as my family as well. my pop drove a truck when we were little & sometimes he would literally wake us early in the morning & drop us off to spend the day, the week, or whatever.

it was great. we had tons of cousins. we never wore shoes. we could be dirty & play hard like children do. i remember the smell of shrimp fresh in from the boats. i remember candy & boiled peanuts. i remember uncle goodwin’s bulldog, champ; people were scared of him, but i loved that big ole lug. i remember aunt nancy taking me & cousin melissa to the antique store & letting us pick out a little porcelain trinket. i remember being rushed to the hospital after i slipped under a watermelon trailer (full of watermelons) in uncle jackie’s yard. i remember jennifer ashley being born. i remember uncle mack & how he loved ames & me so much & always had pictures of his loved ones everywhere, framed & dusted on shelves & walls. & even more cousins. & weddings. & sad passings of those gone way too soon. but, isn’t this what memories of childhood are all about? i mean, how lucky were (are) we to have this whole extra family? like a trifecta! i still relish at the thought of visiting this place where people recognize me or remember me as that little girl with the blonde hair. they even made me a pageant judge last year for their annual shrimp festival (‘& your new miss shrimp is…’ september, 2011)

so, what does this walk down memory lane all mean? besides, nostalgia to the nth degree for me & my sister? this week will be the week that the rest of the world is introduced to my “family!” yes, the town of yemassee, sc & it’s folks will be the key ingredients to a show…a show! ya’ll…we got ourselves a new reality show. i’m not even kidding.

the title of the show is ‘the week the women went’  (hailed “the greatest social experiment”) & it airs on the lifetime channel this tuesday the 14^th at 10 pm following ‘dance moms’ (mark your calendars & set the dvr). 

i am so very excited as i have known that this was going to happen for…let’s say a while. when all the hoopla was taking place at the beginning, it was between “my folks” & some other small towns. needless to say, yemassee won out amongst the stiff competition.

so, what does a small town do when all of the women are removed & the men have to make the bread & then come home & bake it? your guess is as good as mine. i can’t wait…will you join me?