Three Generations...
Jun 13, 2009Yesterday, I took the kids to Chick-fil-a in order to redeem free kid’s meal coupons they had received for making the honor roll at school. We parked ourselves at a booth right by the indoor play area that most of the places sport. I knew Ana and David would want to play after eating and I wanted to be able to watch them without having to actually be in the kid’s area. It can get a little Lord of the Fly-esque in there and it is not usually an experience I enjoy.
I was drawn to the family sitting in the booth in front of us where a grandmother, mom and tiny baby were eating lunch. It was the grandmother who first caught my attention. She was wearing what my grandmother would’ve called a “duster,” a kind of “house dress,” loose fitting with snaps up the front. She had snow white hair, curly like mine but the curls were brushed out, longish and pulled up in pony tail. The front of her hair was cut into bangs and kind of floated above her head like a cloud. She had fair skin and her forehead was high, also like mine with a few horizontal lines. She reminded me of the women I met during my time in Appalachia and, to me, she had a rare, raw beauty.
I tried several times to catch her voice to see if I would hear that beautiful Appalachian lilt in her speech, but never quite heard enough to know for sure. Her daughter, who looked something like her mom, with black sleek hair, was quite deferential to her mother. At one point, the daughter placed the baby (and revealed it’s sex by the pink clothing) in the grandmother’s arms while she went off to rinse out the baby bottle and refill her mom’s drink. Grandmother and granddaugther sat together, the little one exploring the world with new eyes, the older clinging just so to the younger and brushing her older cheek against what I knew was the softest sweetest thing in the world to her at that moment.
Grandmother began to sing in a soft voice to her granddaughter, and I couldn’t help it. I cried. Sacred moments can happen just about anywhere, if we just keep our eyes open…
Reader Comments (4)
That's beautiful, Laura, and a good reminder for us to look for the beauty around us. Thank you.
What a beautiful picture you have painted. Thanks for sharing it. The grandmother sounded absolutely beautiful!
Beautiful indeed: thank you for sharing this wondrous moment.
Thank you, everyone!