A Grandmother Story

I spent a lot of time with my grandma.  She was mostly a no-nonsense type who believed in hard work.  But when she had time (and an audience), she enjoyed telling a story or two.  One of my favorites is a story that seemed so out of character for her.

As a teenager she accepted a boy’s invitation to a church dance.  The boy (not my grandpa) picked her up in a one horse-power buggy—the horse was pulling it.  The road up to the church had a steep drop on one side and was a little icy that evening.  Halfway up the hill, the horse lost its footing and fell.  The buggy slid a little, but no harm was done.  The boy got the horse to stand back up and everything was fine—except he was terribly embarrassed.  I'm not sure why. Maybe that was equivalent of stalling your dad's car in front of a girl???  Anyway, he was upset and asked my grandma to please not tell anyone about it.  She promised she wouldn’t.

Once at the dance, two seconds inside the door, she loudly exclaimed, “Oh Lord, it was awful!  We almost didn’t make it.  Billy’s horse fell and the buggy nearly rolled down the hill!!!”  But it really didn't—and Billy was humiliated.

How could my sweet little grandma do that to the poor guy?

Then I had a creepy thought.  She wasn’t my grandma when she did that—she was a girl.  A teenage girl!!!  My grandma…a real person!  That was almost as shocking a realization as the first time I saw one of my teachers in a store (“What’s SHE doing here?  Teachers shop???”).  The horrors that await 7 year-olds!  ;P 

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers and grandmothers out there!  Hope you have a great weekend.