revisiting the past

This week I found myself blanching and freezing some fresh sweet white corn. It’s very late in the season, but I really wanted a few cups for the winter. It reminded me of the time we spent with Grandma when the kids were little. At that point, I was freezing 10 to 12 dozen ears of corn and husking them would have been difficult without her help. This year just a measly 2 dozen ears - small in comparison to our fresh corn needs from 20 years ago - but plenty for us now. 

Grandma And The Girls

The years we had with Grandma were very special and are the reason that I want to share one of our first blog posts with you. My hope is that it reminds all of us to be intentional in the time we spend with those we love. 

About 20 years ago, we offered to move in with my husband’s Grandma if she ever needed it. Fast forward 9 years and that time came. She was 91 and in contrast, we had 3 children under 10. You can imagine the chaos that ensued over our 3 month period of transition. We took two established households and brought them under one roof. Grandma had lived through the Great Depression and had kept everything. I mean EVERYTHING. Stacks of papers and twisties, closets of clothes, her deceased husband’s old farm jeans and multiple sets of false teeth (which is a story for another day). The list could go on forever. But somehow we managed, and we moved in on my husband’s 35th birthday.

Have you ever tried living in a house with a widow? It’s hard. But God calls us to care for the orphans and the widows.

“But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.” - 1 Timothy 5:4

Living with Grandma was really hard until I realized my job wasn’t to change her life, it was to enable her to live it better. That doesn’t mean it became easy - just easier.

It was a time for our family to find joy in learning from and living with Grandma. She had so much knowledge and wisdom to offer about what was important in life. We entered her house assuming we were there to give to her, but instead, we quickly realized that the value and life lessons that she taught us far outshined our simple gift of presence.

Living with Grandpa or Grandma isn’t possible or practical for everyone, but that doesn’t change the reality that we need to be present for our parents and grandparents. And help them live life better.

Searching for wisdom and asking for grace,

Jody