Remembering Granny

Granny. What can you say about her? She had a quick wit, a sharp tongue and a servant’s heart.

She could walk into any situation, any home and immediately know the perfect thing to do to help. It was second nature for her to know what needed to be done and have the courage and strength to do it.

And funny. There was never a dull moment with Granny around. She saved funny items she found in newspapers, magazines, church bulletins. People would even send her funnies they found. She always had a snappy come back. She loved funny songs, poems or stories. When I was a little girl, she would recite this silly ‘story’:

“When I was a little boy I went bare footed but I wore my ‘grampaw’s’ shoes. One day I went out to the apple orchard to pick some peaches to make a plum pie. I climbed up in the cherry tree, shook out some hickory nuts and fell out straddle of the fence with both feet on the same side.”

I remember trying to figure out how someone could straddle a fence with both feet on the same side! It didn’t take much to entertain me back then.

The conversation never lagged with Granny around. She could talk to anyone for as long as they stayed around her. When we would go over to quilt or just hang out she rarely stopped talking. It wasn’t as though she hogged the conversation, she could just steer it so that there was very little down time. You never had to think of something to say, Granny took care of that for you.

Granny would often say she wasn’t very smart. She’d say “I didn’t have much book learnin’.” That’s what she called it – “book learnin’”, meaning she wasn’t at the top of her class in school. In fact, she almost didn’t graduate high school. But as we all know, especially if you knew Granny, ‘book learnin’ isn’t the only way to measure intelligence. Granny was one of the wisest, knowledgeable women you could ever meet. She had common sense. Common sense about raising kids, taking care of a husband, duty, caring for others, right and wrong. She knew that little tiny bits of peppermint would soothe a baby’s cough and help them breathe. She knew that holding a baby tight in your arms, singing a lullaby and rocking would calm even the most determined little one and help them fall asleep. She knew having a meal ready for her husband at supper time was not degrading to her but fulfilling and would enrich a marriage. She knew (long before Oprah) that serving others makes you feel good about yourself, although that’s not why she did it. She did it because ‘that’s what you’re supposed to do’. Her strong sense of duty to the church was unmatched by anyone I have ever known.

“This old world” as Granny used to say, is a far less funny world without her. There is less serving without her. But maybe her wisdom and legacy lives on in the lives and hearts of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. I doubt she ever realized what an impact she had on her family and anyone who knew her.

If you never had the privilege of meeting Granny, read Proverbs 31. Then, you will know her. She is truly a Proverbs 31 woman.

I miss her.

“And her children rise up and call her blessed.” Proverbs 31.