I also call her beautiful....
And then....
That's my dad next to her. They look just alike in this picture with their beautiful eager eyes. I do so love that misleading look of innocence. Psssh. Who are they kidding???
She arrived here (GrandMary, that is) Wednesday afternoon. I knew of her coming, but didn't put too much stock in the hopes that she would come, because my aunt (her daughter, my dad's sister, the one standing next to my Grandma in the first photo) was in the hospital a while back, so I didn't know if it would deter her trip out her. But alas, when Wednesday did arrive, there she was.....
It's been so good to see her after all these years. I think the last time I saw her was almost 4 or 5 years ago, when Carmen had just first begun to walk. David and Mike Jr. were still really young too, so they didn't really have enough memory of her to conjure up a projected image in their processed memory. But now they will. And I'm glad.
Grandma had a tea party yesterday for Carmen over at my mom and dad's new house, and my mom and I were forcibly invited. It was rather adorable though, seeing the last fucking people on earth you'd ever dream of to get together for tea. Carmen even broke the rules and farted a couple of times. I even put my elbows on the table, cause I'm such a rebel.
But that's pretty much where I've been for the last 2 days. Over at my mom and dad's new house, soaking up all the attention and planting my head firmly up my Grandma's ass. Carmen was clomping around on my mom and dad's wooden floors with my Grandma's heels at 10:00 at night. It was so cute though.
My presence was demanded yesterday at 11:00 a.m. by my Grandma. She called in the middle of me getting dressed to go see her, asking "when are you comin' over?? Get over here!!". So after I was done pretty-ing myself up, I rushed over to my mom and dad's with the quickness, expecting my mom and dad to be up and awake with her. But there she was, creeping around like a sneaky little mouse. I was amazed she even found my phone number to call me. I NEVER talk to her on the phone.....
She greets me with so much love and enthusiasm whenever I see her. She's just like that. She can make you feel like the most wonderful person in her life. And you don't get jealous when you see her greeting others with that same love and enthusiasm. You only feel happier, because you know someone out there is receiving that same love you just got yourself moments ago. Everyone who meets my GrandMary falls in love instantaneously. Even Marlon Brando. But alas, that's another story, for another time.
She used to go to elementary school with Elvis Presley. Before he was all rich and famous, obviously. She said he's nothing like the Elvis everyone knows and remembers him for now. She said he was obnoxious, ran around barefoot and dirty, singing songs to everybody that nobody wanted to hear. And since this was the South we're talkin' bout here, and way back, when people were just horrifically racist, I guess Elvis was frowned upon for hanging with "colored folk". (Not my Grandma's view of things, just a general perspective we're speaking from here people.) I guess she had him sign her yearbook at the end of the year, like everyone else, and it said something like "Roses are red, Violets are blue, sure hope I don't end up like you"....Ha!! Some smart aleck shit like that.
But anyhow....My Grandma and her sister were able to keep this yearbook after all these years, and they eventually wound up selling it to some museum for like, $5,000.00 fat ones. That's just fucking crazy. My Grandma's real modest though. She's says, "Yeah. It was just enough money to remodel my kitchen."
Funny. Strange. I dunno....
So like, I finally arrive at mom's and dad's around 11:30 a.m. or so, and there she is, showering me with affection. I feel all befuddled and self concious, but suck it all up like a Hoover Vacuum cleaner. Then she sits me down on the couch. She shares with me her trip to China, (she ministered to many women down there and eventually started an orphanage there after her husband Bill died years ago) and showed me pictures and spoke of her personal experience of baptizing all these forlorn orphaned Asian girls in the Blood of the Holy Spirit. I guess the interpreter said that most of these women had never been hugged or touched in their life, and for my Grandma to come and show her love and affection, (as doting as she is) was almost too much for these women. Keep in mind that this shit is against the law in this part of China that my Grandma's in. Communist China, I guess? Or is all of China like that? Fuck. I dunno. But anyway, we get into a bunch of spiritual talk. And then she has me read some scripture from her bible out loud. So I do.
First, she asks me if I know what a "jewel" is. I tell her "yeah", in a "naturally" sort of manner. And then she says, "It's a stone, that's had lots of pressure and rubbing. But the outcome is beautiful:
A jewel.
And then she says, "And this. This is for you."
Isaiah 54, verses 11-17:
11 "O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted, Behold, I will set your stones in antimony, And your foundations I will lay in sapphires.
12 "Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies, And your gates of crystal, And your entire wall of precious stones.
13 "All your sons will be taught of the Lord; And the well-being of your sons will be great.
14 "In righteousness you will be established; You will be far from oppression, for you will not fear; And from terror, for it will not come near you.
15 "If anyone fiercely assails you it will not be from Me. Whoever assails you will fall because of you.
16 "Behold, I Myself have created the smith who blows the fire of coals And brings out a weapon for its work; And I have created the destroyer to ruin.
17 "No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their vindication is from Me," declares the Lord."
.............
My face is smiling outwardly while my heart is crying inside.
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