I'd give a left hand just to have some of mama's good cooking again.  Everyday meals were always like Thanksgiving with multiple meat, veggie, bread and dessert selections served help yourself style with lots and lots of syrupy sweet tea. Some of these recipes are in mama's own hand but several are from my Aunt Geraldine and clippings from the Weekly Herald, Farm Bureau magazines and church cookbooks. Now, imagine a dessert table filled with not one or two of these but with 10 or 15 waiting for my Aunt Mary, Uncle Larry and my cousins to drop by during the day and gobble up some good food. It was a sight to see!

My mama started getting really sick in early 2001 soon after my oldest brother Eddy passed suddenly. I think losing my older sister, my grandmother, my Aunt Francis and my brother in just a few years time took a heavy toll on her physical and mental health.  On my last visit home from Massachusetts before mama's final hospitalization, she could barely move or catch her breathe but she gave me a great gift that I will never forget: her last home cooked meal, just like Thanksgiving.  Enjoy!