In her haste, Charlie Ann completely forgot about the candy for her aunt as she drove to the house. "Change is not bad," she thought to herself. After all, she came back home for a change of scenery, but so many of the small shops and quaint homes that she loved were now replaced with gas stations, seedy looking bars and fast food restaurants. The vivid memories of Willoughby, imprinted on Charlie Ann’s heart, just could not come alive in this cold and foreign place.

Her crumbling expectations were revived when she turned on to Shannon Way Drive. The winding road was unchanged. The trees may have stood a bit taller, but Charlie Ann could name each one. Everything was in its proper place. She had taken the trip so many times. She lived only a mile or two away and made frequent trips there. Her heart was pounding fast and she felt like jumping out of the car and running down the path.

As she approached the Victorian home, she was greeted by the familiar rows of oak trees that still stood guard at the entrance. The grass appeared greener and the sky more blue than any of her first stops in Willoughby. With the so-called "progress" around town, Aunt Shug still had not managed to have her driveway paved and it made Charlie Ann glad as she dodged the same deep potholes that she remembered running through in her bare feet after an April rain. She recalled how Aunt Shug would often join in the fun, tossing off her heels and holding up her skirt. Hosing down was part of the April ritual, followed by a nice cup of cocoa. Charlie Ann’s brow softened with the memory and she wore an expression as warm as that cup of cocoa.

No longer able to contain herself, she leaped out of the car as if she were nine years old, running reckless towards the house.

It now struck Charlie Ann that she had nothing for her aunt and gazed over to the tea rose garden. As a child, she would always bring in fresh roses for the crystal vase in the dining room. Despite her broken arm, it appeared that Aunt Shug did not let her tea rose garden go unattended. If anything, the bushes looked lovelier than Charlie Ann had remembered, with colors ranging from a delicate rose to the colors of a sunset. She carefully picked a dozen of the Lady Hillington from one of the bushes.

She remembered how Aunt Shug loved the yellow roses and their unforgettable scent.

As Charlie Ann approached the porch, she suddenly froze. The past 10 years had been filled with crushing disappointments that left Charlie Ann emotionally raw. Even though she desperately needed that sense of belonging and love, she knew her heart could not bare anymore rejection or pain, especially from Aunt Shug.

Kathy Schmugge has lived in Fort Mill for two years. A native of Maryland, she was a nuclear power instructor for the Navy and later taught chemistry at the Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory, N.C.

“I have worked as a freelance photojournalist covering religious events for 12 years and I still do it from time to time,” she says. “I am currently the Family Life Coordinator for the Catholic Diocese of Charleston, coordinating ministry work throughout the state. I am married with three children. “I have always thought when my life slowed down that I would write books...no sign of slowing.”