Starting when I was in the first grade, my grandmother and I shared a room for a while. After my grandfather died, she moved in with us. I loved it. My grandmother for a roommate! I was in heaven. They told me it was just temporary, and I knew she would move out, but I loved every minute of having her there. I begged her to buy the house next door to us. It wasn’t for sale, but I considered that a minor detail to overcome. A lady named Mrs. Pace lived there with her daughter, Miriam. I asked them if they would like to sell their house and move because I knew someone who needed it. They were not particularly receptive to the idea. And of all things, they told on me to my mother. But, I needed to keep my grandmother close. She ended up buying a house around the corner from us. It was so close that I could walk over to see her.
I loved spending the night with my grandmother. On Fridays, she would come by and pick me up after work. We would go to Winn Dixie and shop for my favorite foods before we went to her house. I didn’t really care where we went – it was all an adventure for me. Even Winn Dixie was exciting when I went there with my grandmother. She had a chair in her house that would spin all the way around and she would let me play in as long as I wanted to.
There were lots of times when I would almost spend the night with her. This is how it happened. My grandmother and I loved the Beverly Hillbillies. We would have the best time laughing at Granny when she thought an ostrich was a big chicken or at Jethro when he would start “ciphering” and saying “Naught times naught…” I would just about roll in the floor laughing.
So on Beverly Hillbillies night, I went to my grandmother’s. She would pick me up after work and I would be armed with my pajamas and Cheetos. We would cook something to eat and then I would take a bath and put on my pajamas. I would also rub Jergens lotion all over my hands, just like my grandmother. We would have a good time just waiting for the Beverly Hillbillies to come on. Sometimes we did things like shell peas. If it was fruitcake season, we picked out pecans. My grandmother made a fruitcake that people who hate fruitcake actually liked. Sometimes we wrote notes to her sisters and I would get to add my greeting – How are you? I am fine. I went to school today. I wasn’t much of a letter writer back then.
When the Beverly Hillbillies (brought to us by Kellogg’s of Battle Creek) finally came on, I broke out the Cheetos and my grandmother fixed me a Coke. We ate, drank, and laughed out loud. My grandmother thought Jed was handsome. I thought Ellie Mae was beautiful and I wanted a chimpanzee just like hers. I asked for one every Christmas. Never got one. Every time that doorbell rang in the mansion, I knew what was coming and I still laughed like it was the first time. When the ending song came on, I sang along with it and then they were gone for another week. My grandmother would take me home in my pajamas. I just loved almost spending the night.
Sometimes I wonder if God gave me that special grandmother because He knew how much I would need her after my mother died. There are times when I think back and am so thankful for the wonderful memories I have. It amazes me when I think that God has been there for me through every one of those memories – good and bad. Sitting in the cancer center today getting a treatment, I can’t help thinking about this cancer journey of mine and how God might want me to use it. I am still trying to figure it out and I pray about it often.
Don’t ever forget that God is always faithful. Your circumstances don't matter. Good times or not so good - He is there. He is with you no matter what your journey includes – cancer or not.
But you remain the same and your years will never end. Psalm 102:27
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