Grami

I haven't stopped today for more than 15 minutes (where upon I feel right asleep).  But despite that it's been an amazing day.

It's interesting to me as I grow older how much more interesting I find things like worship and service and people in general.

Does that mean I'm finally growing up and looking around me?

Hum, maybe . . . it would be nice, but I have my doubts about ever growing up.  As I stand in front of a room full of my Primary children and I see them fidgeting and moving around, I think, Yeah, I feel the same way and before you know it, we're all acting out scripture stories or doing something that gets our fannies and brains moving.

So . . . I'm not sure I've made much progress since I was three.

There's time right?

Yes?!

Good.

As for my day, well, the best part of it came when we bought tickets for NYC.  We have a place to stay, tickets to fly there . . . now, just a little fundraising (look out for some Phoebe texts about her crazy delicious Caramel Popcorn) and I think we've got this.

Despite the challenges we have in our life, we have way WAY more great things.  (And by the way, once I put away all the dishes, and went through all the flour/sugar/oat bins, I still have three cup measures!  Boom.  Blessings!).

I remember (and I know I've told this before, but it's too good not to repeat) sitting with my grandmother on her front porch and her looking out over our valley and saying, Oh, look at where we live . . . it is BEAUTIFUL and I am so so BLESSED! over and over again.

I looked with her at the land in front of her house and all I could see was a dingy pile of dirt and rocks that the Sand and Gravel pit left (imagine the noise of thousand pound rocks being crushed into little perfect sized gravel for your walkway . . . THAT'S what we heard every day from 7am-4pm--not to mention the huge bulldozers and dump trucks) and some mangy bushes that tried to grow without much success.

I looked back at her and thought, Oh Grami, you are LOSING your marbles!  And maybe you should get your eyes checked . . . Because this is nothing but ugly!  UGLY.  Where is the beauty?   I love you, but you are CRAY CRAY.  I patted her hand and told her I loved her and left it at that.

Oh, what a silly girl I was.

Now I look back in my minds eye at that view.  Sure I see the dirt piles, but I also see my parents struggling garden that sat between the piles and my grandmother's house.  I look higher and see the rolling green hills and the beautiful sky filled with puffy white clouds and I feel the coolness of the huge Oak tree that shaded her whole house.  I smell summer and cut grass and the warmth of the day and her love for me.

She wasn't seeing the ugly stuff, she was looking straight passed it to all the good around her.

That's my Grami.  That's my legacy.  And darned if I can't try a little bit harder to be a bit more like her.

Because she's right.  There is beauty all around us and we are BLESSED.  We just have to look . . .

I did!  And I found three more measuring cups.  BLESSINGS!