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Aunt LD and Aunt Baby Ruth

At an early age, God gifted me with two beautiful women, Aunt LD and Aunt Baby Ruth.  My Aunt LD was married to my Great, Grand Uncle Buddy; and, her sister, Aunt Baby Ruth lived with them on the second floor at the House on Wentworth Avenue.  I lived with Mama in the attic apartment

Because we didn’t share the same bloodline, legally, we were not related.  Love, which is more powerful, made us family and kept us together from the mid-1940s until they passed in the mid-1970s.

On Saturday evenings the aunts would prepare Sunday dinner.  I believe it was an enjoyable meal for them to cook because:

• working as live-in domestics, what they cooked and how they cooked was controlled by the people who employed them;.
• living in the House on Wentworth Avenue, they were empowered to cook what they wanted and how they wanted for their family and friends.

Aunt LD and Aunt Baby Ruth were excellent cooks.  They created traditional soulful southern dishes, which were familiar to me. Occasionally, introducing us to some of the dishes they cooked at work.

I loved to watch them cook, especially the desserts.  They always baked several cakes and/or pies.  After patiently waiting for them to finish, they gave me the empty mixing bowl and spoon.  Eating the leftover cake batter was my Saturday night snack.

On these Saturday nights, the youngest one in the room, I was introduced to family bonding, sister to sister love, and two women working together toward a common goal — placing a soulful meal on the Sunday table for loved ones to share at the House on Wentworth Avenue.

In my next post, I will share even more memories of my maternal family.