Sunday, January 16, 2011

What the World Needs...

Many of you already know that my Grandma Miles died on Christmas Day. She didn't want any kind of funeral or memorial
service. We honored her wishes. I am still not sure if not having that made it harder or easier to suffer her loss. I know I am glad that my mom did not have to take on the burden of planning a service and I hope that people who knew Grandma are honoring her in their own way. I know that I would have had things to share about Grandma at a service. But at the time I think I would have found it hard to organize my thoughts.

Last night while Genevieve was on my computer, I hand-wrote what I thought would be today's post. I felt like it was time to say something about my Grandma. I wrote four pages about what she meant to me and what I would miss about her. I am glad I did that. But this morning, what I wrote yesterday didn't seem to be enough. Those four pages were telling me they needed to be written in a different way. So below is my tribute to my Grandma, who we also called Nana after great-grandbabies came along. I hope it would make Grandma happy.

What the world needs...
What the world needs is Grandmothers.
Not just any Grandmother.
Not accident-of-biology Grandmothers.
But real and true Grandmothers.
Grandmothers who take you places.
Take you places camping or shopping or exotic travel.
Take you places like Ponderosa or KFC or KMart or Giantway.
Or take you places like small towns during the Great Depression
or to factories where you work hard for what you have
or to glimpses of your parents' childhood and forgotten parts of your own
through stories they tell over and over again.

What the world needs is Grandmothers.
Grandmothers who give you things.
Give you things like your favorite shampoo your mom won't buy
or $100 every Christmas or surprise gifts whenever
just to let you know she's thinking of you.
Give you things like loans when you need it
or bags of groceries because she couldn't figure out
how to shop for one person after Grandpa died.
Give you things like values and hugs and praise
and time and confidence and unconditional love.

What the world needs is Grandmothers.
Grandmothers who let you do things.
Let you do things loudly like play and sing and dance
and turn cartwheels in the living room and laugh.
Let you do things like have yard sales at her house and sell
her stuff and keep the money and store your junk at her house.
Let you do things like put "dibs" on the things she has that you love.
Let you do things like mess up and make mistakes and cry.

What the world needs is Grandmothers.
Grandmothers who make you feel.
Make you feel like a perpetual child, even after you turn 40.
Make you feel a connection to history and family.
Make you feel confident and smart and worthy.
Make you feel like you are the most important person ever born.
Make you feel like there is a hole in your heart when she has to leave.

What the world needs is Grandmothers.
Grandmothers who help you see.
See the importance of family and story and connections and love.
See the gifts she has given you to celebrate what is important.
See the values she has passed on to guide your living.
See that you would give back all the stuff you "dibbed"
if it brought her back for even a day.
See that even after she is gone, she is with you forever.

What the world needs is Grandmothers.
Grandmothers who make you realize.
Realize that the world needs Grandmothers.

5 comments:

  1. LeeAnn, this is a beautifully moving tribute to your beloved grandmother. Thank you for sharing.

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  2. Newest follower. Really liked this post. Reminds me of my own grandmother. Thank you!

    Clay

    http://www.tantrumstroublesandtreasures.blogspot.com

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  3. Thanks for following, Clay. I am looking forward to spending more time reading your blog as well!

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  4. LeeAnn, I don't have a "blog" but I got something wet running down my cheek.

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  5. Thanks, daddy. I was feeling pretty emotional when I wrote it.

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