It’s been many a year since my Grandma has been walking this physical plane, but she visits me on a regular basis and sometimes has a lot to say. Her favourite thing to say is…”The world is going to hell in a hand basket!” Now as it has been all those years ago, she sees with her wisdom and her intuition and he clarity that things can get very out of hand. Being a devout Christian woman, she always had faith and believed that God would see us through. She pops in to remind me on a regular basis that as long as we have faith in God and in each other that there is always a way and that everything will work out just fine. I have inherited my eternal optimism from her, I reckon.
We called her Grandma TwoTwo because as young kids it was had to figure exactly why we had one mom but two grandmothers. And so Flora, my maternal grandmother, took the title of TwoTwo granny…or Grandma TwoTwo. She saw the magic in everything and was a consummate gardener, cook, seamstress and healer. She could fix anything and make anything right with her apt attention and the touch of her hands. She never swore a day in her life except one time when we were capping strawberries on warm early summer evening. “Shit fire! I cut my finger!” She uttered just under her breath. My eyes grew wide at the sound of that and I looked at her in amazement saying…”Grandma!” ’cause I knew if I said that I’d be in a world of trouble, that and I was so taken aback at hearing her curse. She just smiled at me and said…” …well…I did!” 🙂
Back when she was a young woman and mother all the folks went to see my grandmother and her sisters for all sorts of things. They grew up in the depression ere, their fathers and grandfathers having fought in the Civil War. She used to tell me, “…we were poor but we didn’t know it.” They always had everything they could possibly want and knew no better. “The world has changed so much,” she used to tell me, worried for the old ways. But she loved the new things that had been introduced into the world, not like my grandfather on my dad’s side, who was suspicious and in disbelief in everything “new”. Being from Amish, Mennonite and Quaker stock, it was born in him to suspect anything new fangled. (That’s a story for another day, for sure! 😉 ) Mom’s side was different, though. They were adventurous and happy, independent and scrappy. Back then folks would stick together in a pinch and everyone went to church and praised the Lord. My mom hated church, however, and played hooky any chance she could. She was a wild one, alright. I take after my grandmother in pretty much all respects, my brothers taking after my mom, always rowdy and full of party. I was content to be home keeping the home fires burning just as Grandma TwoTwo used to do. Mom thought it dull and boring. I think it just fine.
Now, I’m not a “prepper” or a “Doomsdayer” by any stretch of the imagination. But I am of the mind that if only everyone would live a more simple life without so much drama and waste, following the Bible and living better lives for one another, honouring the Golden Rule and the Ten Commandments…how different yet again the world would be. We could keep some advancements such as those of medicine and medical technology if only to make the world a more healing and healthy place to live. But do we really need all the glitz and bling? Do we really need to throw food away while others starve? How many cars does one really need? How much money does anyone really need? Some folks have all the money in the world. What for? How can they hoard it while babies starve? I channel my grandmother in saying these things. For what means? And to what end? If the lights went out tomorrow who would survive it? Grandma TwoTwo would ask those very questions all those years ago. She is still asking them today…
What would she say today? I can hear her voice…
“Take care of each other. Think for yourself. Don’t lie or waste or cheat people. Don’t follow others that are evil or bad. Do what is right. Respect life. Love your kin. Be yourself. Don’t be mean. Go to church. Eat right. Laugh. Grow your own food. Give to others. Heal others in their hearts and in their bodies. Make your kin proud. Make God proud.”
Such simple sage advice. I try to live that every single day of my life. For my kin. For my grandmother. For my friends and for the planet. I pass this along to whoever will listen. That way you can pass it along to the next.
…thank you, Grandma TwoTwo. I love you.
