Many of you have read Shirley Twiss’ columns over the years. You’ve reminisced with her about days long ago – small-town Georgia life, childhood friendships, school years and Sunday School lessons. Growing up around the courthouse square created memories mom has treasured deeply, and she has shared them not only with you, her readers, but with her family as well.
Times change. We age. But the memories we carry remain vivid. They live in our hearts – stories we’ve heard, moments we’ve lived, and treasures passed from generation to generation.
I am Shirley’s daughter, Erin, and hold many of my own special memories of the simpler South Georgia days. Every summer we would “come home” to Georgia and it was the highlight of my summer! Sometimes with my brothers and dad, other times just me and Mom. We would stay three weeks or more, and I soaked up every bit of that sweet Georgia life. Aunt Iris’ pound cake fresh from the oven. Cane-pole fishing at Uncle Curt’s pond (not knowing until years later that he stocked the pond before my arrival so I’d get a bite the moment my hook hit the water) … and the fish fry he had for us all afterward. Summer nights on the porch swing shelling peas. Aunt Ruth’s red bird collection. Uncle Woody’s chili. Driving “to town” for a Brazier burger and groceries at Harvey’s. Catching lightning bugs. Swimming at Sumner’s Beach. Watermelon and peaches under the Georgia pines.
Years later, mom took my children for summer vacation to Georgia, and they also got to experience those simpler but more special summers. They would come home sunburned, mosquito bit and smiles from ear-to-ear describing all the fun they had at “Aunt Tootie’s camp”. No TV, no video games, just time outdoors and time together.
These are the memories we carry – bright, tender and lasting. When the details of everyday life fade, these moments remain.
While mom will no longer be writing her column, the memories live on – especially those good old Georgia summers. If she could leave you any advice, I think she would say - love what you have, treasure your family time, and hold tight to those sweet southern days... and of course, the green acre peas and sweet tea.
If you’d like to write to mom, you can reach her at sptwiss@gmail.com. All messages will be delivered and read to her, and they will surely bring a smile to her face.
