Dear Grandma, I miss you. I have tried unsuccessfully the last two days to slow the endless stream of memories. A lifetime full..... Your words from last summer, that entire exchange at the kitchen table just before you had to head back to the nursing home......makes me smile - smiling through tears..but smiling nonetheless. Carys insisted on writing you a note that simply said I Love You. It took a moment for your eyes to focus....a few more moments to process the words.... Then those wonderfully wise blue eyes....suddenly they lit up and you smiled. Your smile was bright and warm.... Without missing a beat, you looked at Carys and said, I love you too! You then concluded, It is good to be loved, and to have someone to love. And that is how we left things... I am so grateful for that last conversation---- so thankful. Your wonderful soul departed this earth Sunday - aged ninety nine years. With that said, and with Thanksgiving Day just a few hours away..... I thought I would share a few memories..... Many of these are personal in nature and will make absolutely no sense to the outside world.... But I know you are listening Grandma.....these are for you. Thank you for making me feel like the most important person in the world when I would come to visit. It did not matter what you were doing, when I walked through that door, everything stopped. If you were cooking, the burner went to off and the spoon gently laid down. You taught me by example the purest definition of the words unconditional love. There was no middle ground, there was no almost.....it was consistent, sincere, and awesome. Speaking of cooking.....I have no idea how old I was when I first tasted your homemade chocolate pie...but that relationship (you, me and chocolate pie)...it is well known in family circles and is now pretty much stuff of legends. Thank you for baking me a chcocolate pie every time I would come to visit, and thank you for always making me feel super special by not allowing anyone else to touch it until I got the first piece. Those pies were works of art. The meringue dipped and crested in magnificent dollops of perfectly toasted fluffy goodness.....Oh what a contrast that mile high meringue hid from view......As much fun as the meringue was to see and taste, the real prize was below in that skillet cooked chocolatiness that made your eyes roll back in your head and your toes twitch. Encased in a perfectly textured crust, it was eyewatering deliciousness. Seeing it sitting there on the table waiting for me was like Christmas morning. But I am getting ahead of myself here..... You know what memory really sticks with me Grandma? When we first got in from the long trip to Tennessee.... After you would stop whatever you were doing in the kitchen... (You were always in the kitchen...) You would run over to me with both arms wide open and say these exact words, Well, THERE he is! Those four small words always preceded the most heartfelt hug.....unconditional acceptance. Grandma thank you for helping me catch grasshoppers when I ran out of worms for fish bait. I am fairly certain the catfish in the attached photo (circa 1973?) was caught from said grasshoppers. Thank you for sitting outside with me and just being there to talk to while I waited, often for hours, without even a nibble. Thank you for your patience; nothing ever seemed to rattle you, and you never had a cross word to say about anyone. Seriously, where did you hide your spaceship? Thank you Grandma for the the encouragement to play in the golden sunshine of the Tennessee summer, and the freedom to just be a boy. Thank you for being a wonderful role model, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Thanks for going along with the plan when we told Lesa the frog legs were chicken drumsticks. She ate a plate full....then we told her what they really were......I know, we probably should have never told her because she immediately threw up, but it was fun while it lasted. I am also thankful for your ability to remember and recite on demand, pretty much our entire family history. I remember sitting for hours as you shared stories about some of the more unique characters; some of those stories rivaled the best scripts in Hollywood. Some of my fondest memories? - waking up to the sound of plates and silverware being set upon the kitchen table, eggs being whisked in a bowl.....and the smell of country ham, bacon, pancakes, biscuits... stumbling down the hall wiping sleep from my eyes and suddenly the room opened.. looking like something King Arthur would order up for his knights at the round table.... It was a round table alright, and I was King Arthur. I would pull out the chair just in time for another Well, THERE he is! Yep..There I was, knee deep in biscuits and red-eye gravy. I recall how you would casually inquire about school, grades, other family members... and in minutes we would have updated an entire years worth of news...of course, we always ended on the same note....... Grandma, where are the fishing poles? It seemed that you barely had the dishes put up before it was time for lunch... And the same for dinner. And it wasnt just me! You managed to make everyone feel special, as if they were the most important person in the world. And then, you did it all over again with Jeff and Joel! Look at how they turned out Grandma - I see so much of your love for the world in their eyes. Now they are grown and sharing the light that you shared with them. And the people they touch will touch others, and the cycle continues. I miss you. I love you. -Greg Myracle
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 23:52:56 +0000
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