A satin pillowcase… is one way I stay connected… to them both… Lauren and Mama Bea.

Mama Bea holding Lauren and her cousins… Jaymi, Megan, Steve and Jenna.

On June 16th I turned the big 5-0 this year… yes 50… half a century.  The year I was born, 1963, it was Father’s Day…as it was this year… so I am my Daddy’s girl.  But it is also special for another reason… it was Mama Bea’s birthday too… my sweet, petite Grandmother.  We had a special bond because of having the same birthday… I would say I was her favorite grandchild… but she loved us all… so the “others” might not agree with my statement… wellll… I’m sure they wouldn’t.

Mama Bea liked to sleep on satin pillowcases… she said it kept her hair from getting “mussed up”… because it caught on the cotton but slid on the satin.  She was from the generation that went to the beauty shop once a week and got her hair “washed and set”… so her hair style had to last until her appointment the next week.

Lauren and Mama Bea in 1998

When Mama Bea passed away in November of 2007… guess what Lauren wanted… one of her satin pillowcases… it was pale pink… and super soft from being washed many times.  Lauren loved and used that pillowcase nightly… she even took it with her when she traveled.  We went on a trip over the weekend to Bastrop for a family reunion… and of course the pillowcase was along for the ride.  When we left on Sunday afternoon… we hadn’t gotten very far down the road, maybe twenty miles, when she realized she had forgotten her pillow with the satin case.  She whipped out her phone and frantically called the hotel… to tell them how special it was to her and to please check the room and get it.  She then called her cousin Jaymi, who lived in town, to go save her pillow with Mama Bea’s satin case… she was upset and crying… until Jaymi called her back and said she had the prized possession in her hands.

I bought Lauren several more satin cases through the years… but she used Mama Bea’s the most and loved it the best.  I now use them… Lauren’s purple and Mama Bea’s pink satin cases… to feel close to them… to hug them… to remember… the shared feisty spirit of two women I love.

I wonder if they have satin pillowcases in Heaven…