Edith.

[Keep It Real - An Ode To My Grandma]

My Grandma is dead. But I have enough memories of her to last a lifetime. The biggest smile creeps over my heart when I think of her. When I remember who she was and what she fought for. I laugh when I remember her. Not because she had a great sense of humor

or often told funny jokes. I laugh because I remember how she would hide huge piles of $$$ in the granola boxes in her cupboard. I laugh because I remember how much she loved dairy queen. I laugh because I remember how she went on a different 

diet every mouth. I laugh because I remember Edith. Edith was my 

grandma's neighbor. And her very biggest enemy. Edith was the topic that kept her occupied all day. Edith was trouble. Let me tell you about Edith. 

[pre]P.S. - It's not actually confirmed that my Grandma's viewpoint of Edith and the havoc she caused is true. It's probably not, due to my Grandma's paranoia. But I am going to write as if it is because the passion in her voice when she would tell us about Edith was so strong, you would think she found her evidence right from the Bible. Writing the stories like this, like I really believed her, will be a little way that I can honor someone who loved me so well. 

My Grandma's flowers died because Edith poured chemicals all over them. But my Grandma caught on to this trick real quick. She would wait in the bushes at 3am with pots & pans, ready to bang them & surprise Edith when she would come over with the evil potion. 

Edith turned the entire neighborhood against my Grandma. Even the postman, Edith got to him. It got to the point that Edith had told him so much slander about my Grandma, that she couldn't trust him with her mail anymore. Grandma had to walk to the post office with her mail in the dark to do her mailing. If she didn't do this people would follow her trail, steal her bills, or even put rat poison in her pills. Oh the nerve of Edith...

Do you want to know what else Edith did? She would park people in. Visitors would come to my grandma's house. And they would find themselves blocked with Edith's car in front of the driveway. Oh Edith. You would. 

One of the most audacious tricks that Edith pulled was turn the entire church against my Grandma. Especially the choir, her lies got to them. One Sunday, instead of singing the doxology the choir sang, "Janet is loser..Janet is a loser" How rude of Edith to pull this trick the very same week that my Grandma's doctor told her that she needed to turn up her hearing aides. 

One of my very last memories of the trouble that Edith caused happened around Christmas time. Edith would make a homemade fruitcake every year for each house on the street. My grandma's house was not excluded from the list. But her fruitcake was not made with love like all the other neighbors got. It was made with malice, and my Grandma caught on to this real fast. She was sure that fruitcake had some illegal substance in it, and was not going to touch it. So that year when Edith showed up at the door with the cake and a fake smile, my grandma said, "Edith...go drop dead" and she handed that fruitcake right back to her. 

There are thousands of tales that I could tell about Edith. I grew up with Edith and the trouble that she would cause. Edith made the public bus late. Edith stole the coupons from the paper in the driveway. Everything bad that happened in my Grandma's life or in the lives of the ones my Grandma loved was always Edith's fault. 

I love remembering Edith, because I love remembering my Grandma.

I laugh, close my eyes, and somehow I can still hear her yell, "Kids, get in the house, Edith is coming down the street" 

My story of finding

My late Grandma would always talk about her sister Dot. I wish I could remember what she would say.    Only faint memories of her telling tales about Dot's white furniture and her escape to California. I can't remember much else. Only this: Every single week, my grandma would sit by her phone, and wait for Dot to call. And they would talk for hours.

It had been nearly 10 long years since they had seen each other face to face. Aunt Dot & Uncle Mac were finally coming to Pennsylvania to visit. To see her sister and all of us. But then my grandma tragically died. Dot & Mac were on a cruise ship and couldn't come home. Couldn't make the funeral. We never ended up seeing them.

But family is family, and somehow we all stayed in touch without my Grandma & Dot's phone calls.  They would get packets of pictures of family events. And we would hear stories about how badly they wanted us to visit. Finally this past summer, my other aunt & uncle and my little brother went to San Diego to visit them.

The calendar turned to January and it was my turn. 

And so I met them. In California, the land they claimed as their eden. They escaped to it over 40 years ago. Escaped Pennsylvania's family pain and chilly climate. Escaped more then we will ever know.

The time I spent with them was simply bittersweet. I met them, probably for the first and the last time. But it will be a forever time in my heart.

You see, it may be the last time because - 

 He has a rapid growing cancer and she has severe scoliosis. 

They are dying, but they live. 

Everything they do is an echo to the years of history and timeless love they share.  My uncle Mac is 90, and he drives like he is 90. On the wrong side of the road. Missing turns that are right in front of him. The kind of driving that keeps it's passengers praying the entire time. But Aunt Dot, the entire time will just be exclaiming what a great driver he is. She will say, " Oh Mac, you are such a great driver, I can't believe how well you know where you are going. I am so proud"  She is a Pennsylvania girl who fell in love with a southern boy from Virginia. And in their old age, she still calls him,  "her rebel" 

And my Uncle Mac, he is old, it's hard for him to walk. But he still always opens the doors for his lady. If her food from the restaurant comes out wrong, it ruffles his feather. He hates for anything not to be perfect for his lady. He always wants her smiling, and will do anything to make sure she still is. 

 They make fun of each other's old age. Laughing all the way. He makes fun of her old lady scarf and she makes fun of his old man hat. They still laugh. One of my favorite parts about them is the way that whenever the smallest good things occurs, they say "Look, did you see that...The Lord was so good to us" Over and over.

And my Grandma. I saw Dot and I saw Janet (my grandma).  It wasn't just in the way she looked or the sound of her voice. But in the little things that mean the most. The kind of things that marked the uniqueness of a person that you loved with all your heart. It was the way Aunt Dot pulled the Weather's Original candy out of her purse. The way that she talked about the discount she got on her designer coat. The way she would head right to the gift shop when we get to an attraction, and try to buy me every knick knack in the place. 

I had this vision of when I would meet them, that we would talk about my grandma. Share the memories of her that we love the most. But one sentence about my grandma was all our visit could handle. One sentence where I found out what was said on all those late night phone calls my grandma would wait up for.  My aunt said to me, "your Grandmother loved you to pieces. She was so proud of you, her grandchildren were all she ever talked about" I heard the words, and my sunglasses filled with tears. My throat chocked with grief. I couldn't respond. Only stare at the pounding waves of La Jolla and feel an empty hole in my heart. 

Dot & Mac are dying, but the live. They are old. Most their age and with their medical conditions live in nursing home. But not them. They still have a house. A little yard. A bitty dog. They prune their own orange tree. And tell hilarious stories of the coyote's that roam their street. Their friends sit in wheelchairs, but they drive their fancy car all over town - wining and dining at San Diego's best. Their friends venture to play more bingo games, but they venture the world. Not afraid to take frequent holidays. In a few months, they are going on a long holiday aboard an Alaskan cruise. They booked the veranda room. They tell me, "whenever you travel, book the veranda..you will get special perks...it will  be worth it"

My Grandma & her sister hadn't seen each other in years. But in January, I got to stand on the brinks of eternity and be there for them both.  I wish my Grandma could have been there. I know what she would have said. It would have ended with an "I told you so"

My Grandma is gone. But another part of her, me and the ones in life I love the most was on the other side of the country. Aunt Dot and Uncle Mac ran away to California so they could finally breathe. And breathe they did and they never stopped. Somehow by a magical wind, paths crossed and hearts met. I understood a little bit more about why I am me. I have a little extra hope for a magical adventurous life that is brimming with love and adventure, even into my old age. Because you see this January I found out, it's not simply a dream in my heart, it's in my genes too.

The God that doesn't abandon.

My God does miracles. Every single day, all over the world.  Amazing. Beautiful. Miracles.

With my own eyes I have seen blind eyes see light for the very first time. With my own hands, I have felt tumors disappear. With my own ears I have heard the deaf speak for the very first time. In my own joints, I have felt pain evaporate. My God does miracles. They get me every time. But this year, on January 1st, I saw Him do a miracle that is going to ring in my heart forever.

This is the kind of miracle that you can only see with the eyes of your heart.

For many years, a beautiful lady that I work for taught me that spending your day in the garbage dumps of the earth is heaven's idea. That they are the happiest places to go because it is in these places that Christ comes and lifts the poor from the dirt and the needy from the trash.

So, we are in Central America....and we want to go to a garbage dump. Because that's what we have been taught to do, and there is nothing else we would rather do.

So we try to go. We get lost. Driving around the city for hours. Finally, the dump is found. In one of of the most notoriously dangerous sections of the city. It's a place that is so dangerous, that there is only one road to go in or out.

We find the garbage dump. It's the end of the work day, so not many people are at the dump. We go to the village connected to the dump. Along the way we visit a young mother who tells us there is a pastor in this village who works very hard, giving his life and heart to the Gospel- but his family is very poor and has nothing. 

We buy food in the little shop for people and spend time delivering it. And at just the right moment, we walk back through and run into the Pastor's wife. We sit with her in her little house, sing her happy songs and hug her. Her husband stops in, on the way to church. And many beautiful things happen, but we end up filling their pockets with heaps & heaps of cash. More in that moment then they probably have ever seen in months.

And the Pastor's wife, with tears in her eyes told us that two hours ago she was standing in front of her mirror getting ready for the evening church service. And in the middle of her poverty & hopeless situation she said, "God, you have abandoned me"

But God

My God

Her God

He didn't abandon her. Before she even spoke those words, love was on the way. A small group of Americans were driving around the town, looking for a place to deposit the hope of Christ that rescued them & the pockets full of cash that God had planned just for her.

They didn't know where they were going. Or really what they were to do once they got there. All they knew is that love shines brightest in the darkest places on earth.

And it does. It showed a sweet lady that the God she pledged her life to serve, also pledged His to her. He promised that He would always take care of her. And He did, and always will. Before she spoke her words of despair, He had already set his wild love plan of care into motion. 

Heaven had her set up for that ambush. We would of never thought to go to a garbage dump if God didn't give Winnie the desire to go to them over 30 years ago. We would have never gone to that dump if she didn't teach us that no matter what, you find them, you search them out and you go. It was no mistake that we got lost, that our schedule ran late so that instead of spending our time in the actual dump- we spent it in the village next to it. It's no mistake that we chose the village entrance we did, and at the perfectly timed moment, we walked by the lady who told us we needed to visit the pastor's family.

  A beautiful lady, who God paid everything to call His own, thought that He had left her. 

Make no mistake, God doesn't abandon.