I'm sure everyone thinks their Grandma is special...however, I feel like mine is extra amazing. As I noted in my other blog, Natalie's Photo-A-Day Challenge:Today I had the chance to visit my 97-year-old grandmother, May. I can't even imagine what it will feel like to have lived for almost 100 years. I thought 22 was old until I put it in comparison. I'm barely two decades old...my grandma is almost TEN decades old. She has been through two World Wars, a Great Depression, buried two of her children, and basically raised herself since she grew up in an orphanage.
And that's not even the start of it, my grandmother has faced more challenges in her lifetime than most people probably will in three lifetimes. And she's done it all with faith and courage and a cute little smile on her face. Even though my Grandpa Art passed away recently, she is still as vibrant as ever. Every once in awhile she will make a comment like, "I keep looking over to his chair, expecting him to be sitting there and then I remember he's gone." It's so sad to see the loneliness in her eyes. But I'm glad I was able to visit her, you never know when it will be the last time. She shared some stories with me that I wanted to write down so I could always remember them. She's told me many of them throughout my life and I wish I would have written down more of them.
When my grandma lived at the orphanage, they served peanut butter sandwiches every day for lunch. So one day all the kids decided they were sick of this and wanted something different. So they went on "strike" hoping to get something else. However their plan backfired. The orphanage answered by giving them no lunch. It was then May said she realized having a peanut butter sandwich was better than no lunch at all. It made her more grateful for what she had.
My grandparents owned Gray Haven Farm in Bellevue Ohio. They often drove down to Columbus for the State Fair with their animals, and had to wake up at 4am and then drove back late at night. One evening, my grandma said they were driving back and Grandpa Art was so tired that he couldn't drive anymore so he pulled over to take a nap and fell sound asleep instantly. Grandma said she didn't want to just sit there so she crawled over to the other side and pushed him out of the way. She continued driving, until a policeman pulled her over. He asked for her license but she didn't have one. She still never got a license to this day. She didn't know what to say, so she told a little white lie and said she forgot her license at home. She was so surprised that he actually believed her! He followed her all the way back to the farm, so she invited him in for coffee. He never did ask to see her license.
One afternoon she saw her boy, Jimmy (my uncle) running towards the house and a big man was chasing him. She sprinted outside to see what was wrong and ran straight past Jimmy telling him to quickly run inside. She asked the man what Jimmy had done and he said Jimmy picked up a dead bird and threw it on his wife's lap, who screamed and screamed. Grandma said she knew Jimmy didn't even have the aim to do it on purpose, even if he wanted to. She told the man, he's my boy and I'll take care of him. She was scared because she knew if the man got ahold of Jimmy, he would have beat him physically. Then when she got inside she gave Jimmy a bath and then fed him some fresh peaches she had just canned.
My grandma is such a sweet lady. I'm so glad that I could be there just to listen and spend time with her. I hope to be as patient, kind, gentle and strong as she is. Many people who were faced with the trials she had, would have turned cold and hard. But not my grandma. She still loves life and finds the joy and goodness in each and every day. I hope to be more like her.
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