Happy Birthday to...my Grandmother!

How can she be turning 89 on April 4th - this Friday?  She does not look a day over 65 - which goes well with my aunt who is stuck at 32 in my mind.  I tell her I passed her in age a long long time ago!

As I think back to my childhood, I remember people laughing when I told them I had "lots" of grandparents. But I did.  I had grandparents and great-grandparents.  I was so fortunate to grow up with lots of people to love me.  I have lost all of them except my grandmother.  We have always called her Grandmother.

I remember riding on the bus or taking a taxi from downtown Bristol to the Cameo or Paramount to see a movie when we spent the night with Grandmother.  She did not drive, so going somewhere with her was very exciting indeed.  Sometimes we walked places.  She lived in town near Krispy Kreme.  But better than Krispy Kreme were The Giant doughnuts that my mom got sometimes on our way to Grandmother's house.  What a treat!  Anyway, fun was somehow linked to Grandmother.  We saw movies that had Dick Van Dyke or Don Knotts in them.  I remember one was The Apple Dumpling Gang.

As I grew up, I appreciated the compliments and encouragement that came from Grandmother.  As I got older, my appreciation grew even more.  Grandmother and I share a love for Christian fiction.  She was the one I called a few years ago when I saw Beverly Lewis in person at Lifeway in Chattanooga while traveling for work.  She was happy to find out she is much prettier in person than on her book covers!  Grandmother and I do NOT share a love for "Murder, She Wrote", my favorite TV show of all time.  I think maybe she was hung up on something about Angela Lansbury's earlier works and not Jessica Fletcher (who, by the way, writes fiction and does not drive either!).  That is definitely one thing I cannot figure out!

I called Grandmother the time Pete flew to Texas, and my house almost flew apart hours after he left!  I had a water pipe burst, my furnace messed up, my car battery died, a blizzard was coming, and I was almost out of milk!  Just one of those days with three very small boys - who thought stamping in the water puddles in the dining room seemed like fun while Mommy frantically searched for the switch to turn off the water.  Fortunately, one of our good friends knew where to tell me to go in the basement; and his phone number did not contain a "4" which decided not to work on my phone on that same day.  The plumber came.  My brother came.  All was set to rights.  Grandmother laughed with me and told me it sounded like "Little House on the Prairie."  We laughed about all of the things that went wrong and how they were made right.  It's important to give credit to God, because we know He was behind all of the fixing!

A few years later, I called Grandmother to tell her about one of the boys and his medical problems.  I told her I felt more like "Marcus Welby, MD" than "Little House" - she agreed, and we were still able to laugh.

We had a great Christian Book Warehouse in Bristol, so I got Grandmother gift cards there for Christmas.  Then I would try to come over and take her to shop myself.  Once, the lady at the cash register (who had struck me as someone who maybe should not be left alone at the cash register) took Grandmother's card that still had a lot of money on it to throw away - instead of the empty one.  Don't ask me, but we thought THAT was funny too!  But we were happy we caught the mistake.  Those cards were like gold to Grandmother.

I have other funny stories, some even more recent, but I cannot share them in case they would get Grandmother in trouble!  She likes to do a lot - she probably shouldn't - at her age.

A huge blessing last year was her hip surgery.  She had been in pain for months and months.  I told her, when I found out she was having surgery, that I did not think they would do hip surgery on an 88 year old woman if they did not think it would help.  Too much risk.  She had a great doctor and came through surgery better than most people who are much younger.  She woke up without the pain that plagued her for many months.  I felt like a gift had been given back - not just to her but to us as well.  Sam and I went to check on her, and he talked to her more than he ever had.  It was fun to see the delight on her face as she listened to the quiet little boy talk.

Grandmother has always been encouraging to me.  She tells me things that others don't - things that give me a different perspective and make me appreciate my family more.  My brother once called her the glue that holds our family together.  She certainly is!

She has had some serious illnesses in the past and has overcome them and kept on going.  She has so many great stories to tell.  And sad ones too.  I know she shakes some because her left hand was tied back when she was in school so she would use her right hand.  Sam is left handed - as is my sister.  She also will pull up her face a little to give me a better look at  her dimples - which Sam has too.  She tells of her brother using dish detergent instead of hair oil getting ready for a date and then seeing bubbles form on his head as he walked through the rain.  We laugh and giggle.

Last fall, driving back alone from a cross country meet in Raleigh, I listened as Grandmother told me how she rolled over to sit up in bed because she hurt so badly in the morning.  A little bird walked by her bed.  It stopped and looked at her and kept on walking.  She said she shook her head and rubbed her eyes, but there really was a little bird!  We laughed until we cried.  Hearing how my dad came and got the bird (safely) out was quite another story!  What a treat for me.

What a blessing to have my Grandmother.  What a blessing to have had her here for 89 years.  It's good to know she is there.  I cannot wait to share my new Robert Whitlow book with her that is pre-ordered, or was that an Amish fiction author?

I know she is a blessing to the rest of the family too.  My sister has her own book of stories.  She has ongoing jokes with two of her daughters where strange things end up in their houses.  It's kind of like the rug my brother and sister pass back and forth.  It's so good to laugh and make others laugh.

We love you, Grandmother, so much!  Happy 89th Birthday!  (Even though you don't look nearly old enough to be having such a birthday!!!!)