Day 7 - A Picture of someone that has had a big impact on me.

My Grandmothers, My Blessings

I wrote the story below right before Mother's Day 2010.  It was published in the Mother's Day edition of the Morganton News Herald. Since this was written, my grandma Beulah has passed away.  I hope you don't mind me using this story as the Day 7 challenge.

 

Its getting close to Mother’s day and I always think about my Mom and all that she has taught me, but this year I have found myself dwelling on my two grandmothers.  I never call them grandma or grandmother unless I am talking about them.  When I am talking to them I always say Mawmaw or Me-maw.  I look at these two precious women today and see how fragile and frail they have become and I think on the lessons they have taught me. 

Mawmaw Faye or Me-maw as my boys call her, taught me much about being a Christian.  She did things and I watched and learned the lesson from her actions.  She showed me how important it was share.  If the garden was plentiful and she had more than she could use, she would take some to people in the community that didn’t have as much.  If someone in the community was sick, she called them up and then brought them homemade pies or cakes.  If the illness was lingering she would cook a whole meal and take to them.  I traveled with Me-maw many a day to deliver a bag of apples or plums to the elderly in the community. She has a giving heart.

Me and Me-Maw Faye

Me-Maw showed me how to be friendly to guests. She always cooked lunch and supper (dinner to you city folk) and if company stopped by at these times she would set another place for them.  And there was always enough. No one went away hungry from Me-maw’s unless they were too stubborn to partake.

Me-maw also taught me patience.  She took me fishing!  She said if we wanted to fish with her we had to learn to tie on a hook and to bait it ourselves.  And she took the time to teach us these essentials.  Then she taught me how to be patient and wait on the fish to bite.  That was so hard!  But now I can wait all day and not be fussed about it. And learning patience in fishing also helped me to be more patient with people.

Me-maw taught Sunday School for many years.  She taught me when I was in third and fourth grade.  We had to learn the books of the Bible and as many scripture versus as our minds could hold. John 3:16 was one of the first versus she taught us.  Learning these lessons has helped me today.  I may not remember the books of the bible in order, but I know if they are in the old or new testament.  The scripture versus may not be as clear but I remember their meaning and can generally tell you what book they are found in.

Mawmaw Faye is getting slower these days.  She is in lots of pain most days, but she keeps going.  She will still bake a pie or cake for someone that is sick.  And she goes to visit people in the neighborhood that are unable to get out. Doing for others, being there to listen and to show the love of Christ by her actions, she is an earthly example I strive follow.

Mawmaw Beulah also taught me much.  She was a short red headed Irish woman with a fiery spirit and an imagination that knew no bounds.  She taught me how to use my imagination and told me stories to feed it.  She also taught me to be proud of my self.  On many occasions she would say you are tall and beautiful stand with your head up shoulders back and chest pushed forward and walk with an attitude. And then she would demonstrate the walk and the attitude.  When I was thirteen she told me to start praying for God to send me a good Christian man that would be good to me and my children. And I took her advice, and now have a wonderful husband and two beautiful boys.

Andrew and Mawmaw Beulah 2002

I didn’t get to spend as much time with Mawmaw Beulah but it was always fun and interesting time. She told stories of ghosts and made up stories of how she used to be a princess warrior, slain with a spear through her heart.  Mawmaw Beulah spoke of her childhood and how she used to fight the boys that made fun of her bright red hair and short stature.  She told of how she would pitch baseball and how she pitched better than any boy at school.  Mawmaw Beulah was a story teller and I loved to listen to her soft spoken words and dream.

Today Mawmaw Beulah is confined in wheelchair and is a prisoner to the late stages of Alzheimer’s.  She lives in her past and occasionally she will invite you in to the world she now sees.  Her speech is difficult to understand but her repetitive motions give you ideas of what she sees.  Maybe she is picking things from the garden or working in the cotton mill.  Maybe she is again that warrior princess.  But for now she is my beloved Mawmaw.

I am now a grown woman, a wife, a mother of two.  I remember my youth as one long summer blurring into years.  Most of my time spent with my grandmothers was during the summer months.  And that time spent with them is what I remember the clearest. Sitting on the porches listening to stories and snapping beans or shelling peas.  Watching shooting stars on the special occasions I was able to stay the night with them. Smelling fresh baked biscuits, watching old westerns or hearing the ticking of a wind up clock, are my memories.  These Memories have shaped who I am today.