MY SWEET ROSE

Today is the birthday of my sweet Gramma Rose. ( she is to the left )

I can literally write volumes on this woman.

She is the one who has molded me, spiritually, and to me, was the living embodiment of a Saint.

She reminded me of St. Francis as a child, and still, everyday, I think of her and see why I clung to her, and I mean literally, clung to her.

I spent every summer in NY with her. My family was back in Jersey, and even though I probably should have felt bad leaving my brothers, sister, and mom, I was sad for maybe a minute or two, and then reveled in my 2 hour drive, "Over the Tapanzee River and through the woods, to Grandmothers house we go".

Actually, my days now, now that I think of it, are exactly how we would spend out time together.

I know I blogged about her and some of these stories before, but because it is her birthday, and I am smiling from ear to ear thinking of her, I will write some of my simple highlights of being with her.

I had my own room across from hers. She would come in and try to wake me up.......... saying my name so gentle and sweet. I pretended to be asleep so I could hear her voice..... she would pull down the covers and put soft music on my little clock radio....... go over, open the window, pull the shades and sing while she was doing it.

She would leave and I would get up to the smell of toast and coffee. She let me drink coffee. Sanka with non dairy creamer. I loved it.

She had corn flakes and a cut up banana on the table, rye toast with homemade orange marmalade, a cup of skim milk, orange juice, and always a little note under my coffee cup that said things like, "You are my special angel", or "You are God's angel, or Just "Good Morning, I love you!"

She never threw anything away, so when breakfast was over, she would show me where to throw the garbage away. Any food related items would go in the box for either the earth worms, for fishing, and the bread crumbs would always, always go in the box for the birds.

Usually she would water the lawn before I got up, so by the time I was done with my breakfast, the driveway still had water puddles and the birds were waiting, yes, waiting, because they new that Gramma was going to throw tons of bread out there for them.

I'd run out to the driveway, sprinkle the bread, and run back to the porch to watch the momma birds dip the bread in the puddles and feed it to their young.

This sounds so simple, but I tell you, it is one of my most favorite things to do, now, everyday,along with bird seed along all of my railings........ to watch these beautiful creatures in their territory, and how they do respond to us, when we are awake to see it.

We had a hammock in the back and we would lay there in the afternoon together, and she would mimik the birds call. Soon enough, she would hear the bird respond, and then she would do it again, and they had this communion thing going on, and I just thought that was the best darn thing I had ever seen, or heard.

Funny, I was on my walk yesterday, and I heard a specific call from a bird and I was curious to see what kind of bird it was. I whistled the same tune to see if the bird would respond and it did, and we played that very same game. It lasted for ten minutes yesterday, and I literally was in awe, and thought of my Rosie girl. Oh, and yesterday it was a cardinal. I know the call now. How unbelievably cool.......... honestly.

We would put up the clothes that she washed on the line. It was an old fashioned wheel that revolved with a clothes line on it. I can hear it squeaking now. The smell of fresh linens take me right back.

I never minded doing any kind of chores that she showed me how to do because she made it fun, and it was always, always, some sort of spiritual happening, no matter what we were doing. There was always an element to anything we did, that had a spark of the divine in it. Cooking, cleaning, going for 5 mile walks to the grocery store, and then taking a cab back, feeding the animals, or even sitting in a room quiet together.

She showed me how to type on her old, old typewriter, and when she watched the news, I would type her little love letters, thanking her for showing me how to be kind to nature and animals and people. Really........this blows me away as I write, because she did some heavy planting of some seeds, in me.....so much that this is who I have become........and............ I love it!!!

She was an amazing soul, and never had a bad word to say about any one person.

I see her now, as I would peek in her room early in the morning when I would get up to go pee......

6am sharp, she was in her rocking chair in her room, quiet, with her Rosary beads and her little bible......writing little notes of wisdom, and things that she needed or wanted to abide by. She would put those notes on her dresser afterward, and the next day a new one would emerge.

To be able to see that beautiful woman, sitting in that chair, rocking gently, and knowing how much she loved that ritual, has been a concrete image in my soul, and it is the most endearing, most heart felt experience, and I am grateful to have had such amazingly deep experiences as a child, and ........... to have had them carried over into my every day existence, to be and feel whole, in myself, by myself, with nothing to hold onto, but love.........inside.

Thank you so much Gramma...........for you, for your teachings, and for giving me the most sacred part of my life!

You are loved,

Now, and forever.

Happy Birthday!

Love,
Joni