"Granny? Where are you?"
When I was small my parents both worked, so I stayed with Granny. Granny didn't drive -- didn't even have a license. If she went anywhere she walked or rode with someone else, so when I came to her house, she was always there. She'd step out on the porch, drying her hands on her apron and waving at me with a smile that lit up all of Dallas County. Granny had the unique gift of making me feel as though she'd been waiting to see just me all day, and now her day was complete.
So where was she now? I was dimly aware that she'd been at the sink, but how long ago was that? "Granny?" No answer. Panic rising in my 3-year-old voice, I called again, louder and more urgently. This wasn't a game! And if it was… well, wouldn't she have told me first?
"Granny!"
And Granny would crow from the next room, or the garden, or the clothesline, where she was ironing, picking something to cook for dinner, or hanging out clothes washed in the sink. I never learned to duplicate that answering crow, but I did develop an ability to hear it and locate her from quite a distance.
* * * * *
MeMaw, my other grandmother, worked full time, but every Friday she and PePaw would meet us somewhere and we would go out to eat for dinner… and sometimes I got to spend the night afterward. When I did, the weekend would be filled with fun "girly" things like playing beauty shop and painting toenails.
One day the security of my little world was jolted when, during her absence, we went by to check on some housekeeping detail. Mom pulled the key from the door, and I still remember running the length of the kitchen in joyful anticipation, calling "MeMaw! MeMaw!" But the house was still and silent.
Where was she? This was her house. She was supposed to be here! She had always been here before... Maybe she was in the bathroom, or the back yard? No, they were on vacation for a week, Mom explained. Remember? I vaguely remembered hearing that, but I'd been at home -- on my turf, not hers. Now I was where she was supposed to be, and she wasn't there.
The silence was deafening.
* * * * *
Three summers ago we took Jessica to college. And no, I didn't cry -- not right then. She’d gone to Junior Scholars the previous summer, so the drill was already familiar: carry bags and boxes upstairs… hook up a phone in her dorm room… give her wads of cash for no apparent reason. After Junior Scholars she’d spent a few days with relatives, waiting for us to return from a mission trip to Ukraine.
This time, though, it was different. Instead of crossing the ocean and skipping through Eastern Europe, we came home to the house she grew up in. To walls that have echoed and re-echoed strains of Bach and Beethoven… Tillit S. Teddlie and Tony Lewis… Walt Disney and Broadway. With three kids at home, the house still seemed empty.
Years ago, Jessica developed a game. Going about her business, she would sing a line from a song over and over (often because that was the only line she knew!). Eventually, tired of the broken record effect, I would chime in with the next phrase. A triumphant smile would spread across her face. "Gotcha!"
Soon this game evolved to include Shakespeare, C. S. Lewis, Bible verses, famous documents and movie quotes. Unfortunately, she hadn’t trained her siblings to carry on the tradition. After about 2 weeks I couldn't stand it any more.
Enter AOL Instant Messenger, and Cingular Wireless’ family plan. Free minutes. Easily accessible. She was as near as my next breath. And because it wasn’t a “land line,” the response was guaranteed.
"A hand for each hand was made for the world. Why don't my fingers reach?"
"Millions of grains of sand in the world, why such a lonely beach?"
"Where is a voice to answer mine back?"
"Where are two shoes that click to my clack?"
~*~*~
"Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments."
"Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove:"
"O no! it is an ever-fixéd mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken…"
~*~*~
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life..."
"Neither angels nor demons..."
"Neither the present nor the future..."
"Nor any powers..."
"Neither height nor depth..."
"Nor anything else in all creation..."
"Will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
"Call to Me and I will answer you," God says in Jeremiah 33:3. He's never on vacation. He’s as near as your next breath. The minutes are free. The call is easy. He's been waiting to see just you all day.
And the response? Guaranteed!
Labels: Learning Through Family |
