Aunt Doris & Grandma Dawn; my girls.
Aunt Doris was born 55 minutes before Grandma.
Aunt Doris passed away on December 17th, 2019. She was 74.
Identical twins, different personalities.
Spending time with the twins taught me so much about their personalities. Those ladies are alike but completely different. I like comparing them to salt&pepper & seasoning salt. I do this for one reason. I learned to cook when I was 13. I learned by watching my aunts, grandma, cousins, and my mom. I noticed Grandma and Aunt Doris both could fry amazing chicken, but they tasted different from one another’s. After observing them both, I realized Grandma only used salt&pepper on her chicken while Aunt Doris only used seasoning salt. I eventually developed my own method for seasoning food, but sometimes I want chicken with just salt&pepper or just seasoning salt. Seasonings make a difference. On fried chicken, salt&pepper is easy-going, while seasoning salt gives the chicken an extra kick of flavor. Both are equally favorable.
That’s the twins. Grandma is chill and laid back; Aunt Doris was that extra kick of flavor.
Aunt Doris and Grandma Dawn were everybody’s twins. Grandma is the quiet one; Aunt Doris was the jokester. No matter where we were, Aunt Doris would crack a joke or make a funny face if something was going on. Sometimes grandma would join in on the fun. I remember laughing at them a few times and saying “y’all need to behave in here” and they would laugh and turn their head like they were the kids and I was the one in charge. Lol. It wasn’t hard to make the girls happy either; they'd go anywhere with me as long as they got their scratch tickets, cigarettes, and Dr. Pepper.
Taking pictures and videos of the twins became the norm for me whenever I would visit them (and when we had family occasions). I loved sitting outside with the twins while they were smoking or scratching lottery tickets. I would annoy them by asking questions or taking pictures or recording videos of them. Eventually they knew if they were doing anything with me involved, the camera would be rolling. They even helped me with a school video project once and I made an A+.
So when I saw these beauties chillin’ on the dock, observing the scenery, I thought of Aunt Doris & Grandma Dawn. This picture was taken in June 2018. It’s so much more meaningful to me now than it was when I first captured it.
Life Lesson:
· Be present with your loved ones as often as you can, those moments are priceless, extremely valuable, and irreplaceable.
How I Apply it to My Life:
· I spend time with my family as often as I can.
Song:
· Jessy Dixon – I Am Redeemed
Aunt Doris & Grandma Dawn’s favorite song
SLIDESHOW: My girls.