Today we drove down to Southern Ohio to celebrate my grandparents anniversary. I always get a bit wonky when I visit my grandparents. My grandfather is a Baptist minister and we have pretty much been forever at odds. I love him though...madly. It is difficult when you are so different from a family member. It is so hard to find yr place in their heart and vice versa.In real life you can simply disengage from someone who annoys or attempts to stifle you, but in family you are tethered to one another. You are bound to another person and perhaps it is a part of yr destiny to figure out yr relationship. He will always tell me how I am going to hell for a multitude of reasons. He will always judge me. We will never jive in our views. I am a big fat liberal and he is a big fat Baptist minister. But he has always loved me aside from all that. He has always believed in me and cared for me and thought about me. And I him. He has touched the tether too and realized that we are alike in the deep. We both love stuffed cabbage. We both like old movies and vacations. We both love art (he married a painter). We both have beautiful memories of my young childhood when he was king. Before I grew into the person he could not stop me from growing into/before I cultivated thoughts far from his vantage point. We both acknowledged to each other today that it was magnificent that all his children were here...from all over the country. He and my beautiful grandmother raised three amazing children. My mother and her brothers walk this earth in good. They all glow.
My grandfather was jovial today- showing off his stubby finger to the grand kids...he lost a tip of it in an old railway accident long long ago. Finn and the other children were mesmerized, lost in the story papa Charles told from his tongue. Finn was the first to touch it, to gently pet the finger and ask him why would he be so silly as to put his finger someplace unsafe? Grandpa laughed and laughed and it was easy to see the joy float around the room.
It was a good day near Appalachia.
Happy Anniversary Reverend and Mrs. C.
all my love
4 comments:
You are lucky, to still have grandparents alive. Learn what you can from them. You might clash, but honestly, we can learn so much from the life they've lived.
Wealthy woman you are, so rich in family and stories. The fact that your kids have great grand parents is amazing! Thanks for including us in such a special celebration. xo
I agree completely with Mary...you are so very lucky! I too understand the being at odds with family. It is so hard...
I love your fam
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