I sat down with a lady named Vera and asked her about everything in her backyard. She called it the treasure trove her husband left. She offered to tell me the stories, but she didnt want to be photographed.
"He cut the grass almost every week. He taught my granddaughter how to do it, then it became her thing. The kids across the street started to mess with the lawnmower; we had to sell it. I'm not sure where everything else came from"
"We taught our grandbaby how to ride her bike in this patch of land; she scraped her knees so many times, but her "Poppop" always picked her up."
"Look close, and you'll see the "OG mancave." God knows how many bugs are in there, but one thing for sure: he never missed a golf tournament sitting in that thing
"He had many sheds; I rarely saw him go into this one. Maybe it was his hiding spot. My daughters dug into it after he passed; they said it mostly held chairs and some trinkets. But boy, he loved his shed"
"I told you he loved his sheds; he kept everything in here, from fishing rods, buckets, chairs, lightbulbs. We never ran out of anything when it came to him. Had our own mini Home Depot. Now I think everyone is scared to go in it"
"It may look like a tree, but it's just an extremely overgrown makeshift scorpinine grow thing. My husband and my granddaughter started it, and all of our grandnieces and nephews will get all those juicy grapes off and wash them. It became the thing to do."
"The back of our house became a playground, so many games of tag, freeze tag, hide and go seek. Every time that one tree would be base. It's seen every child's face from infant to teenager to adult. I think our happiness helped it stay so strong. No matter any storm its the only one that stayed up."
"He taught my granddaughter the joy of nature. That brown patch in the back was their little garden. She walks and just lays on it from time to time. Eggplants, Kale, Squash. You name it, they grew it."
"This exact grill and cooler would be the center of every family function. Oster boils, Seafood Boils, Family cookouts. My youngest daughter, Tara, would grill on it all the time. I can't remember the last time she touched it"
At this point, she began to get emotional, so I thanked her for her time and took some still shots of the neighborhood around her house. All she could say to me was, "We miss him so much, so much ojy left when he did"
Most of the Houses here have been up for a long time. The greenhouse used to belong to her late husband's brother, but he ended up losing it due to some shady land guy.
Her street contained so much greenery. I enjoyed looking around while she collected herself. So beautiful.
The amount of abandoned old cars in the neighborhood was mind-blowing. When Mrs.Vera came back, she told me softly, "Most of these cars would be a lot of people's ticket for getting a better life, but the memories keep them bound."
"I keep the grass cut as much as I can. When it's too overgrown, I realize my husband isn't here with me. The bushes have been the same for decades. I would always yell at the kids to not hide in them when they were much larger."
Time was up, I thanked her for the story and said a small prayer with her. I had a hard time getting back home from her neighborhood, so I asked for directions. She told me, "When you smell the bread, you're going the right way. It smells so much better than it tastes"
When I met Mrs.Vera, I told her what this assignment was about. She shared with me how her passion was always journalism. With the struggles of Jimcrow, becoming a mother, and college. She was never able to pursue her dreams in the way she wanted. But, despite all of that, she became a very much loved teacher at this school as well as many others.
