Shane with the In-Laws

Mr. Hands' great-aunt Katherine Fort made the front page of The Eagle Democrat, Warren, Arkansas' daily paper, on December 20. She is honored for being the city treasurer since 1954--that's 13 terms and 52 years! Apparantly, she has kept the books with pencil and paper, all 35 different accounts. My best memory of her is visiting her elegant house in Warren, which Mr. Hands and I were urged to do by his Meema. It seems Aunt Kat's grandchildren had visited Warren a few months before and had not stopped by to see Meema, a fact noted but never mentioned by Meema. Now, we gleefully accepted our roles as faciltators of Meema's gentle and good-humored "revenge." She made sure we dropped by Aunt Kat's for a nice visit on our way out of town. I adore Meema, and though I think Aunt Kat is a lovely woman, I'm Meema's willing pawn in any "revenge" scheme she may hatch.

Meema hand delivered the paper with this story about Aunt Kat. She is visiting her son, my father-in-law, with her three daughters, Mr. Hands' aunts, and their husbands. They came from all over the southern states to visit for a few days and I am listening to their happy drawls carry up the stairs and into the den as I type.

I've been trying to match people with the tales I have been told, but so far everyone is on their best behavior. It takes about two seconds in a room with my father-in-law's family to discern the family dynamics, worked out over a lifetime and now roughly comfortable to each, but beyond that, I can only wonder at these accounts of hilarious hijinks.

Meema is busy cooking up a mess of fried appricot pies; their aroma will soon demand that I leave the computer and find them cooling between papertowels. I hope there are some left!