I got up Sunday night at about midnight and for some reason I checked my email. That’s typically something that I don’t do. Number one, because our internet usually doesn’t work. And, number two, because I usually only have one thing on my mind that late at night... sleep. But for whatever reason I checked it and there was a message from my mother. And she told me that my grandmother had passed away in her sleep. It’s weird, because I felt happy and sad all at the same time. She was 94 years old, she had been in hospice and bedridden for almost 2 years. She had lost her eyesight, she was in constant pain and was restricted to her bed and couldn’t even get up to get in a wheelchair. So, to know that she wasn’t in that condition anymore was great. And most importantly I know she’s with Jesus. And for that I’m happy. And it’s because of her that I’m walking with the Lord today. Her and my grandfather (he’s 97!) raised my mother to fear God and to trust in Jesus. Which, in turn, allowed my Mom to teach me the same thing. So to know that I’m gonna see her again in Heaven is very comforting.
Almost all of my early childhood memories (the positive ones) somehow involve being and Grandma Calloway’s house too. I can remember when I was little, my Mom and Dad would say, “get ready because we’re going to Grandma’s house.” And Me and my brother would say, “Grandma with or without the toys?” You see, Grandma Calloway’s house was the bomb. She had soooo many toys to play with. And my other grandmother’s house (Grandma Dunn- aka Grandma without the toys) was the opposite. Her house wasn’t ‘kid-friendly’ (and either was Grandma Dunn now that I think about it, haha!) and we hated going there. But Grandma Calloway... she was awesome. She was a preschool director for something like 50 years at the church and she knew how to make sure kids had a good time. So anytime we went to “Grandma with the toys” house we had a blast.
Even though I’m 47 years old now, there are so many things that I can vividly remember like it was yesterday. I can even remember being at her house in Miami and the way it felt. They didn’t have central air so the windows were always open. Grandma was a great cook (and Grandpa too) and always had something going on in the kitchen, so the smell of food was always a constant at her house. Actually I can remember one time (I was probably around 7 years old) and grandma had something in the oven in the kitchen. She had left it there cooking and she went and got into the shower. Me and one of my cousins were sitting at a table adjacent to the kitchen (coloring or something like that) when, all of a sudden, out of the bathroom comes Grandma wrapped in a towel and parading over to the stove to take whatever it was out of the oven. The only problem was that grandma wasn’t the smallest of ladies and even though her front was all wrapped-up, her back wasn’t. So when she bent over to take the food out of the oven it was a full moon over Miami! Me and my cousin busted out laughing (we were just little kids) and Grandma even laughed as she told us to look the other way. She had a very distinct laugh. It makes me smile just thinking about her laugh.
She was a very strong woman too. And even though she always made sure we were having fun, she didn’t put up with any foolishness. I can remember doing something wrong and she made me walk out into the back yard to get a switch (that’s an old school term for a small branch used for spanking) off the tree and bring it to her so she could spank me with it. Seriously? It was bad enough getting spanked, much less having to go and choose the instrument of pain yourself. I can remember her standing at her back door as I was bringing back a little teeny-weenie branch one time and she didn’t think it was funny at all. So she made me go back to the tree for something bigger, then I got spanked twice as much for not doing it right the first time. Thanks Grandma: )
When Grandma and Grandpa were building their house in Lake Placid (back in the 70‘s) the whole family would usually drive the 4 hours to go and stay there on the weekends.The adults would work on the house and the kids would play, fish and swim. And, for us kids, the canal behind their house was where most of the action took place. It’s where I caught my first fish and we loved swimming there. The only problem was, when we finished swimming we were covered in this nasty brown film (from the dirty water) all over our bodies. But Grandma had a solution that we always knew was coming at the end of the day. She’d make all of us cousins strip-off all our clothes in her back yard and stand against the back of the house in a line. Then she’d spray all of us down with the garden hose. This was pretty embarrassing and pretty gross too. It was pretty embarrassing, because nobody wants to stand unclothes in a line with all your cousins and be sprayed down with a hose like you’re being processed into some type of WWII prison camp. And it was nasty, well because the water smelt like sulfur. What was up with that? But I guess that was grandma’s way of cleaning all us grandkids up in the quickest way possible. She was all about efficiency: )
Another thing that I’ll always remember about Grandma Calloway is how she loved her family. She was so proud of all of us. If you ever walked with her into the little room next to her kitchen, she’d talk for hours about all the pictures of her kids, grandkids and great-grandkids. She loved her family and she was so proud of us all.
But the main thing that I’ll never forget about Grandma Calloway is how fervently she loved me and prayed for me when I was a teenager. I was rebellious little punk, fighting against everything and everybody. I even lived with her and Grandpa for a while as a teenager. The unconditional love she showed me was amazing. And more than just showing me love she talked to me about Jesus. And it wasn’t in a condescending-preachy way either. It was just matter of fact and to the point way, that made me understand my need for a Savior... my need for Jesus. She never gave up on me. And I know that I wouldn’t be the man I am today if it weren’t for her and the influence she had on my life. I’m gonna miss my Grandma but I know we’ll see each other again.
Jim
PS- Please pray for my family. Although we can’t attend (because we’re on the mission field in Brazil) the funeral is tomorrow. It’s gonna be a great day of celebrating her life: )
