She was a child of the Great Depression, truly understanding what it means to have nothing and considering FDR a real-life hero for helping her family get back on their feet with his “40 acres and a mule” program.
As an adult, she was a beautician by trade, cutting hair for years and years in a beauty shop in Midfield – and part of that time she worked side-by-side with Tammy Wynette, before she was famous, of course.
She learned to dance the Charleston at the young age of 80-something and loved it, despite the fact that Baptists don’t dance.
She was a hardcore Braves fan who could talk baseball for hours if you were willing.
She has sisters and cousins and nieces and nephews spread all over the South and she kept up with them – who was sick, who had babies, whose birthday was coming up. That family surrounded her for her 90th birthday party and ended with an extended visit with her sister. She was positively giddy about it.
She kept lists and notes about every occasion – menus, who visited, the funny things the kids said, what we did or talked about. She wrote down everything so she could think about it again later. I thought this was a funny habit when I first met her, and now I find myself doing the same thing.
She lost her only child in 1992. And her husband 4 years later. She didn’t let that stop her from praising God.
She was everyone’s grandmother. She loved me as if I were her own blood when I joined the family and I spent hours talking to her the way I wish I had talked to my own grandmothers. I was too immature to know what I was missing then; she gave me a second chance.
When we visited, she made sausage balls because we love them and she played and played with the kids - sitting in the floor to build castles with the wooden blocks she kept for them, and occasionally, chasing them around the living room, laughing like she was one of them.
She was wise; the kind of wise that only comes with watching the world change and change again for nearly a century and learning from it.
She was prayerful; thanking God for every day He made and the people He put in it.
And at the end, she was peaceful, knowing her work on Earth was finished and her reward was very near.
Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” - John 16:33
She was the most faithful person I have ever known. She has overcome the world.
This is Nana.
March 3, 1922 - July 12, 2012
 |
| Nana loved a lapful of babies. |
Godspeed, Nana. Until we meet again…
No comments:
Post a Comment