Wednesday, February 18, 2015

This Is What Happened: For Posterity's Sake


Owen gave me the complete spa treatment today. He massaged my shoulders, did my hair, gave me make-up, filed my nails and...wait for it...flossed my teeth!
Gibson helped a little bit.
I feel so much more beautiful now even though I have scrubbed my face and filed down my nails into a shape more suitable for a human being than they were after Owen did them.

They were only here for a short while this afternoon, just enough to have sweetness and fun and not one tear.
That Darth Vader which Owen is holding is one I got him yesterday at the Big Lots. I let them both pick out a toy and Owen chose Darth and Gibson chose some Aquanauts? Is that what they are? Owen adores that Darth Vader. He has a light saber, of course, and it lights up and Darth makes his Darth noises and Owen knows all about the relationship between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker and some other dude I never heard of and today he told me that Princess Leia was a BAD girl. That she kissed her brother on the lips! He told me this as he was painting my face, his face just inches from mine and his eyes grew wide when he related this information.
"Well, she didn't know he was her brother," I told him. "Plus, I'm your grandmother and we kiss on the lips sometimes."
I don't think this redeemed the bad girl in Owen's eyes. He knows what's what.
Gibson could not care less who kisses anybody unless he's involved. When I went outside to kiss them good-bye when they were leaving, Gibson absolutely would NOT kiss me.
"I can't," he said, which is one of his favorite things to say along with "I need you."
I begged, I pleaded. "Just one little kissy?"
"No."
"Well, I love you," I told him and I closed the door, my lips feeling the distinct lack of those still-baby cheeks for one more kiss.
I went around the van and kissed Owen who will always kiss his Mer and then Gibson changed his mind. So I went back around, opened his door, kissed him good, told him I loved him once more and closed his door again.
Before they got out of the driveway he was yelling out the window, "One more kiss!"
Which of course I gave him.

They slay me. They slay me with their love, their curiosity, their smarts, their humor. The things they say and do. Their sweetness. Their boyness. Their slyness and cunning and complete openness.
And I tell you what- if there is one thing I am put here on earth for, it may be to show these children in their earliest years that they are deserving of absolute unwavering and unconditional love.
Yes. I think that is what grandparents are for.

So they made it a good day for me and I made a garbanzo bean soup with cabbage and onions and peppers and garlic and tomatoes and potatoes and venison sausage. And oatmeal-sweet potato bread.
I have covered up a few plants but I know that the spirea, the azaleas, the redbud, the Japanese magnolia and even the camellias will drop their buds. It's okay. Somehow it will all be okay.
It is not unusual at all for us to get these late freezes. I have seen it snow in March. Once. Thirty years ago. It snowed in the Bahamas that year.

Still, my potatoes and peas survived. How is it that I can remember these things? I do not know.

Will I remember this day? Probably not but here, I have written it out. With pictures.
One more of those.


Riches. And a crazy cat who doesn't know whether to kiss me on the lips or tear my hand off.

I bet she sleeps with me tonight. There will probably be kisses and teeth and claws. It's okay. I understand the ambivalence of loving something so much you want to eat it. She and I share this trait and it's probably why I love her so damn much.

Love...Ms. Moon


18 comments:

  1. I miss my sweet little grand baby hugs. My granddaughters, one almost 18 (YIKES!!), one 14 and one 10, still kiss me upon arrival and departure, and sometimes even scoot over for a quick hug. Those boys, though (ages 15, 14, 13 and 12)! They've mastered the art of a drive-by hug and give them only because I expect them, I think. But with each and every one of them I can remember the sweet smell of their baby heads, and me kissing that little cleft just above their angelic lips. Oh damn! I'm missin' those grand-babies somethin awful right now! And, yes...grandparents are made so we can show those precious little humans what true unconditional love is!

    ReplyDelete
  2. If I could write like you I would have a blog. I love this whole post. I was reminded of my grandma who had very long hair and how she let me comb it and braid it. She did not speak English but I didn't care. She was like my own doll. The pictures of you and the boys - both real and imagined thru your words - were priceless. And then Maurice and the eggs... What was she thinking? This whole thing just flowed.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love that you play with such abandon. What a gift, what a legacy you are giving.

    ReplyDelete
  4. As I say quite frequently around here "Those boys" Gibson and his kisses (I can't!). And That Cat. Maurice takes her duties like egg inspection and ignoring birds quite seriously, I see.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I thought I could make it to mass yesterday for Ash Wednesday but alas though I keep looking at this picture of you and it kind of looks like you went as my proxy and were well blessed. Also that photo of you in your white coat on that bed is stunning.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Catrina- With any luck, my children will just keep having babies so that I'll have babies to kiss until I die.
    That's my plan.

    Joanne- Can I tell you how much I love the idea of your grandmother being your own doll? Precious and sweet and memories like that are why I will probably never cut my hair off.

    Denise- Might as well! Plus- beauty treatments!

    Jill- The kisses. Oh my god. They are the honey of my life. Yes. Maurice has her jobs and mostly she does them well.

    Angella- I love being the Mer Mer. And Owen loves telling me how HE named me. He is quite proud of that.

    Madame King- I didn't think of that, but yes! I was ashed up good. That white coat I got at the Goodwill and I love it although my kids say I look like a homeless person in it. Or a gunslinger. It is linen with a flannel lining. Deep, deep pockets. Perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  7. yes, that is exactly what grandparents are for. I do miss those early years. Mine are all grown now. 14, 16, 18. They do give me good hugs even if they aren't so keen on the kisses.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I thought you looked like a resident of upper west side New York in that coat. Don't listen to your kids. Homeless people can't afford coats. You look mahvelous Dahling.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Mary, you're the kind of grandma every child needs.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This is just the uber-grandmother love post. I adore it.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ellen Abbott- I think the kisses we get and give are done in the times in which they are most necessary. Don't you?

    Madame King- Thank you!

    jenny_o- I try to be.

    Elizabeth- They're only going to get more uber now. You know that.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Those boys crack me up too, even from afar. Although I wouldn't let them floss my teeth. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Steve Reed- Yeah. That's probably something only a grandmother would allow.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Love it all! You are such an awesome grand mer mer... Another cat person here...do you know 90% of our DNA is the same as a cat? So this must explain our love for them... Not our pets, but our cousins... We really are stewards to the creatures who live on this planet with us. We are ALL connected.
    Sue~

    ReplyDelete
  15. Sue Johnson- Well, I don't know if I'm really a cat lover so much as I just love this one particular one who came and took up residence. I was flattered. Which is quite the human trait!

    ReplyDelete
  16. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Love how much your grandchildren delight you. You are the best in so many things, but I believe your love of family is especially endearing.

    ReplyDelete

Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.