What a strange feeling this is. I can think of a million things to share as my... Ta Da!... first ever blog post, but today is such a special day that it's really easy to know what my subject matter will be. For anyone who knows anything at all about me, my grandmother, Mary McGuire Fleming, has been the greatest influence of my life. Mimi wasn't the kind of grandmother who babysat us a lot when we were kids or sat in a recliner waiting for my mother to bring us over to sit in her lap. She was the kind of grandmother who had a million things going herself and looked liked ten million dollars doing all of them (per her completely unbiased grandchild, you understand). It wasn't really until I was a teenager that we became close, if I recall correctly. But once we did, there was no stopping us.
Well, today is now officially May 26, the date that we lost her in 2006. In some ways it feels so much longer than four years and in others, just like yesterday. I remember being in complete fear of that day for oh so long because I had never before awakened (or as Mimi said, "waked up") without her. Would I be the same person? Would I ever laugh again? Would I even want to laugh again? I never wanted to know. But of course, that wish wasn't granted. She was ready. I was not. As usual, she won.
We all knew that years before, Mimi had made a deal with The Lord, which she had shared with us. She only wanted to stick around as long as she could still wear high heels. Now, once those days were gone, she wanted to be gone with 'em. Like many things she shared that make us still laugh to this day, we weren't really sure if she was kidding or actually believed it herself. I mean, she was serious about The Lord. And she was serious about high heels. So you do the math. One of our favorite sayings of hers was whenever we talked about Jesus, Mimi would say, "He's just CRAZY about me." Of course He was crazy about her, but who on earth ever said it like that?! So when her heel kicking days ended years before, much to her dismay, I always got the distinct impression that she truly was confused. I mean, they had a DEAL. And He is The Lord. What went wrong? And so my first non-devastating thought was wondering if that was her first conversation with The Almighty. Clearing up their misunderstanding, you know.
Her two daughters, my mother and my aunt, are very Godly women. Mimi and I agreed that we were too, but just not as good as them. We both wondered how someone with a naughty streak like her, coupled with my granddaddy Pal, whose own streak was even more emphatic, ever produced two such girls. And when musing about the afterlife, we agreed that they would both be living in the gated communities of heaven.... while we two slightly less heavenly gals would have zip codes in the projects. We were fine with that! I mean, the worst part of heaven is STILL heaven, right? And so it was decided that we would just be ourselves down here and at least have close relatives in the better section of town to go visit once we crossed over.
Have no doubt, I could go on and on and on writing about this woman who so defined me. As you can probably guess, I miss her, miss her, miss her. Terribly. But how blessed we were to have her for so many years and to enjoy her for so long. Today will of course bring some tears, as it does every year, but the laughter... oh my, the laughter will be there as well. As every grandparent should, she thought that we each just hung the moon and we thought that she planted every star. And who knows, maybe she did.
Well, today is now officially May 26, the date that we lost her in 2006. In some ways it feels so much longer than four years and in others, just like yesterday. I remember being in complete fear of that day for oh so long because I had never before awakened (or as Mimi said, "waked up") without her. Would I be the same person? Would I ever laugh again? Would I even want to laugh again? I never wanted to know. But of course, that wish wasn't granted. She was ready. I was not. As usual, she won.
We all knew that years before, Mimi had made a deal with The Lord, which she had shared with us. She only wanted to stick around as long as she could still wear high heels. Now, once those days were gone, she wanted to be gone with 'em. Like many things she shared that make us still laugh to this day, we weren't really sure if she was kidding or actually believed it herself. I mean, she was serious about The Lord. And she was serious about high heels. So you do the math. One of our favorite sayings of hers was whenever we talked about Jesus, Mimi would say, "He's just CRAZY about me." Of course He was crazy about her, but who on earth ever said it like that?! So when her heel kicking days ended years before, much to her dismay, I always got the distinct impression that she truly was confused. I mean, they had a DEAL. And He is The Lord. What went wrong? And so my first non-devastating thought was wondering if that was her first conversation with The Almighty. Clearing up their misunderstanding, you know.
Her two daughters, my mother and my aunt, are very Godly women. Mimi and I agreed that we were too, but just not as good as them. We both wondered how someone with a naughty streak like her, coupled with my granddaddy Pal, whose own streak was even more emphatic, ever produced two such girls. And when musing about the afterlife, we agreed that they would both be living in the gated communities of heaven.... while we two slightly less heavenly gals would have zip codes in the projects. We were fine with that! I mean, the worst part of heaven is STILL heaven, right? And so it was decided that we would just be ourselves down here and at least have close relatives in the better section of town to go visit once we crossed over.
Have no doubt, I could go on and on and on writing about this woman who so defined me. As you can probably guess, I miss her, miss her, miss her. Terribly. But how blessed we were to have her for so many years and to enjoy her for so long. Today will of course bring some tears, as it does every year, but the laughter... oh my, the laughter will be there as well. As every grandparent should, she thought that we each just hung the moon and we thought that she planted every star. And who knows, maybe she did.
