Gram's Love

I called gram randomly today just to talk and found out that it would have been her and grandpa's 52nd wedding anniversary. He died about seven years ago. So I asked her how she feels on days like this. She told me she thinks about the memories. I love to hear her memories. Even if I have heard the story before, there is something so comforting in hearing how grandma and grandpa lived their lives before I ever came along.

He was a vacuum cleaner salesman putting himself through the Baptist seminary. Gram says that when he came down her street for the first time, they looked at each other, said hello, and then gram ran into the house, safely behind the window, to continue watching him walk down the street. When he came to her house, he told my great grandma (gram's mom) that he loved the picture of gram that sat on the piano. Gram said today that she likes to explain it as "love at first sight".

The pastor's wife invited grandpa to church that Sunday. He came along with two other girls. Gram said she kind of lost interest after that. But her friend leaned right over and whispered, "There's a man for you, Eleanor." Somehow Eleanor and Robert became friends and spent a lot of time together through church activities in the following months. Then, they ended up dating for about 5 or 6 months. He never asked grandma to marry him. He only told her that he had gone home at Christmas and had said to his mother, "Well, I found the woman I'm going to marry". He gave her a ring a few months later and they were married about a year after that.

I asked gram if she was ever nervous around grandpa when they first met. She answered by saying "No not really. He was just so precious to me right away." I've been thinking about this all night. I'd like to be able to say that about my husband someday, "he was so precious to me, even from the very beginning." I'd like him to be able to say the same about me.

I don't know if it's the time for me to be worrying about all of this, although worrying is never really a good choice. I just know my track record for nervousness around people I potentially have a crush on. It's either a sign that I am with the wrong people, or I am walking around with the wrong perspective. I believe it's the latter statement. What gram said today is so right on though. Whoever God places into my life and whenever He chooses to do so, is not meant to create fear or anxiety.

All of this to say, I want to be able to talk like my grandma someday. Sometimes, I feel like I already do, I see her reflection in some of my own words and decisions. She has a lot ot say about life, and love, and walking with the Lord, and ministry. There is something so sweet about her, about my mother even. They see beauty and multiply it through their words and actions. Gram (and mom) have shown me Jesus and have taught me about love in more ways than they could probably ever imagine. It makes me want to reach out and love the whole world like they do. It makes me want to wait and hold out for that "precious" love Gram spoke of this afternoon.