It’s a cold and rainy Sunday morning in January. I’m home from church this morning feeling under the weather and definitely disappointed that I won’t see my 8 year old granddaughter in her new ensemble that I made for her! Hopefully, my daughter will take photos for me. I saw her in it the other day after I finished it but she had just returned from swimming and her hair was wrapped in a towel. Not quite the same effect as today will be!
We spent yesterday at the Natatorium (love that word!) at the YMCA watching my 15, 13 and 8 year old grandchildren compete in a swim meet. There were new “times” set and ribbons won. They are all fast, strong swimmers and competed beautifully. Afterwards, my daughter made totally homemade pizza (sauce and all) for dinner and it was delicious! My now 4 year old grandson asked for “a few rounds of Sock Monkey” before I had to leave and how was I to say no to that?! 😉
I’m in the process of slowly going through the 576 posts of my 4 year-long blog My Southern Heart. I would like to find somewhere to have it published before I close the blog. I published My Southern Heart…the Stories for my children for Christmas a couple of years ago, but my blog My Southern Heart is about 750 pages and too long for the publisher I used previously. Any ideas or suggestions as to printers/publishers???
In the process of going through the posts, I came across this one and was reminded, once again, of the wonder of it all – how the many traits and characteristics we possess are passed down from generation to generation…
Fifty-Five Years and A Lock of Hair…
Published January 2, 2012
A box came down from the attic today that I knew held some treasures. There were letters from my older son and my daughter when they were away at college. There were letters I had written to my parents after we moved to Kentucky. There was a card to my older son at college written by my third grade son telling his older brother that he ”didn’t like being an only child” and that he missed him. The tears were falling, of course, as I continued to sort through these priceless treasures…
Then I spotted the envelope written in Mama’s hand. On the front it read “Dianne McGregor. Lock of hair from September 28, 1957?. 55 years?! I took the envelope outside into the sunlight and carefully pulled out the lock of hair and the small 55 year old rubber band. (For a moment, I felt just like Bruce Willis when he meets himself as a child in the Disney movie, “The Kid”.)
I know now why my youngest has beautiful strawberry blonde hair (besides the fact his two grandmothers did as well). I held the proof in my hands. My hair was clearly blonde. Strawberry blonde.
A year or so ago, I tried having my hair a darker brown. It didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel like me. Someone asked me, “what makes you think you’re a blonde?” Besides my coloring and my memory? I just knew.
So, today, I held the 55 year old lock of hair in my hands. It is the exact same color hair as several of my granddaughters. I was eleven years old on September 28th, 1957…the same age as one of my granddaughters.
I love the study of genetics. The link from one generation to the next. The circle of life…
Three of my eight precious grandchildren were born in the month of January. It has been a month of celebrating their sweet lives. I am beyond thankful for each of them…
Night before last, my now eleven year old granddaughter (today is her birthday!) called me on my iPad to tell me her package had arrived. We had a wonderful visit as she shared what she has been doing. For one thing, she won the Spelling Bee for her class and now competes school wide. She proceeded to quiz ME on some of the words she is expected to know how to spell in just a few short weeks. Even though I was an English major until my senior year of college when I switched to nursing, I had never heard of some of the words! She plays the piano beautifully and played three songs for me. I love Facetime! 😉 She opened her gifts before school this morning and emailed me a great big thank you and the pics below. She loved her gifts.
Featured photo above: A couple of the birthday gifts that I sent to her.
Below: She loved the adorable purse below.
Inside was a soft leather money pouch with a little money in it! 😉
Yesterday, was my firstborn grandchild’s fifteenth birthday! We celebrated last night. He asked his Mom to prepare homemade chicken enchiladas and they were delicious! For his cake, he asked for homemade butter pecan. Soooo good! He is now taller than his Dad and TOWERS over me! He loves that. He got his learner’s permit a few weeks ago to drive and I wanted to be the first person to give him a soft leather Levi’s wallet (a little money inside) so he has a place to keep his learner’s permit and his future drivers license! I came up with a few other gifts as well. He liked everything! He is a freshman but has competed with the high school swim team this year and lettered! He was excited about that. He says he needs a “letter jacket” now. Well, yeah! Before the final high school swim meet, the players shaved their heads…all that beautiful very dark brown hair. He asked his mom how long it would take to grow back! I also love to hear him play the piano. He’s gifted at the piano as well as swimming!
On January 12th, we celebrated this sweet one’s 4th birthday! Lots of wonderful presents and a scrumptious all chocolate cake. He loves chocolate! He’s a joyful, cheerful sweetheart and thinks my role in life is to be a grandmom! He’s right. Just this afternoon, I stopped by for lunch and to pick up my camera which I’d left there last night. Of course, I was easily convinced to play a couple of rounds of “Where is Sock Monkey?” with him and his sister. I gave it to him a couple of years ago and we have just about worn the board out! He loves it. We also played hide and seek with his 8 year old sister. After that, it was back home to sew on his 13 year old sister’s new dress.
Last night, I had a sweet visit with my firstborn via Facetime. While it is not as good as an in person visit, of course, it is the next best thing. The grandchildren were already in bed and I didn’t get to see them but that gave my son and me a little extra time to catch up. He is a physician, board certified in both pediatrics and tropical medicine. He spent the first few years, after residency, practicing in a pediatric group in an “upscale” setting. While he enjoyed it, he longed for more challenges and an opportunity to work with those in greater need. He spent the next almost seven years as a missionary doctor in the Andes Mountains of Peru. He and his precious family loved the opportunity and the Quechua people. There, my grandchildren quickly became bilingual. (My son and his wife had taken about 6 to 7 months of intensive language school in the beginning.) While in Peru, they also adopted my beautiful “Peruvian Princess” granddaughter.
When they returned to the states a couple of years ago, my son accepted a position teaching at an outstanding medical school. He teaches residents and medical students preparing for a future in pediatrics. (And he has a much better disposition and personality than Dr. House!) 😉 He sees patients in a clinic setting as well. He still uses his tropical medicine specialty teaching in frequent mission opportunities and at the medical school.
He told me about an episode this past week which, thankfully, had a happy ending. A three year old boy presented in acute distress after aspirating a GRAPE! It was a scary time as he and his team worked to save the young child’s life. At first, repeated efforts of the Heimlich hug were unsuccessful. The child became unconscious and the parents were hysterical. They were just before having to perform CPR, when one last abdominal thrust dislodged the grape! No doubt the parents as well as my son and the rest of the team breathed a big sigh of relief.
Over a long nursing career, I participated in more than my share of “codes”. I’m thankful that I don’t have to do that anymore. However, I am around four of my precious grandchildren often now and need to review my CPR! I also need to teach them how to correctly perform the Heimlich maneuver.
And I don’t think that I will feed them grapes anytime soon…
Featured photo at top: my son biking out west during college.
I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. I’ve lived in the Midwest and the Pacific Northwest, but Memphis will always be home. My roots are there.
My husband (of thirty-nine years) and I were living in Memphis on April 4, 1968…the day Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated. We were a young couple expecting our first child living in a small apartment on Jackson Avenue. Little did we know that morning that evil lurked in the heart of a man in downtown Memphis. Like many sheltered young people, we had not seen, firsthand, such raw hatred and ugliness.
Along with the rest of the nation, we were in shock when we heard the news. We were appalled and sickened. There would be other times in years to come in this land that hatred and prejudice would show their ugly heads and lives would be ruthlessly taken, but that was later and this was here and now. I close my eyes and try to remember that week. Mostly, I remember the upheaval, the sadness…the tragedy of it all. I remember it being a time of FEAR and discord for everyone – regardless of race.
On a flight from the Pacific Northwest to the Midwest a few years ago, I had an enlightening experience. I was on a small aircraft with one flight attendant and two distinct sections of the plane: first class and coach. I was in coach. She made the announcement that if we (coach) NEEDED anything to let her know, otherwise there would not be a beverage service (for us) on that flight. I was sitting on the second row of coach and had a “front row seat” for the show. She totally catered to first class…warm towels, beverages, nice snacks, etc. The lights were out in coach. The gentleman sitting across the aisle from me remarked that he had never seen this before. Neither had I and it made me mad. It hurt my feelings. The Holy Spirit used this for a teaching moment. He reminded me of all those people who had unjustly spent years at “the back of the bus” or subjected to even worse treatment. He said this is how it felt. It hit home.
Today is Martin Luther King Jr Day here in the United States as it is celebrated near the date of his birth (January 15). I’ve listened to several of his speeches and I am always moved. My favorite is “I Have A Dream”. I have to ask myself what I would have done if I’d been born in different circumstances.
I don’t have the answers for how to eradicate prejudice. Prejudice is everywhere and it isn’t always about race. I still have my moments, as everyone does, but I fight it. Personally, I think our Heavenly Father sees us through a very special lens…the blood of His Son. If we are believers, then we’re all the same color – whatever that is. I think it will be interesting to see when we get to Heaven…
This post was originally published in My Southern Heart.
