Eid Mubarak

assalamu alaikum to all... Eid Mubarak!

I'm so sad the month is over... I want more! Really.


I didn't feel like writing much today, but at the same time I've had this entire post running in my head on thankfulness. See, my great-grandmother, G'Mama, is here from her almost-tropical home state. She's a Geechee Gullah. (our family is from Edisto Island. Go look it up.) And she's 90 years old. My aunt invited her up (for various reasons I shall not get into just now), so it was kinda unexpected for me. But I'm glad she's here and glad I have the time to spend with her.

I enjoy sitting and talking (or listening, really) to her. I enjoy fixing her breakfast and listening to her running commentary while she watches TV. (You should hear her talk about the President... better than any comedy act, I promise.) I just let her feisty kind of patience and wisdom wash over me. I'm sooo thankful to Allah swt for letting me have my entire life to this point with her not only alive but well, kicking, and tellin' it like it is. To hear and see her you just would not guess that she's 90 years old. At all. SubhanAllah. She's hilarious and has opinions but at the same time just isn't malicious. What I'm so incredulous about is that... I like her. As a person. Not only do I respect her (as I should) but the respect and the liking is sincere. She'd have been one of my best friends had she been about sixty years younger, I think. Thank You, God.

Two days ago she fell while leaving my aunt's split-level living room and my heart just 'bout stopped. She walks and gets around so well- better than her daughter in law, my grandmother, in fact- that it's easy to forget just how old she is. She didn't even want any help getting up, masha'Allah. I told you she's still kicking. Thank You, God.

Seeing her talk to my 9-year old cousin just as she talked to me made me think about the future. I hope, I pray, that she stays here long enough to influence my kids the way she has me... and my mother's generation. Insha'Allah.

And one of the kickers in my mind is that my whole family, those of us who are her descendants, almost didn't happen. She's the mother of my mother's father; my grandfather was born when she was 17 and unmarried. Though she eventually did marry, she never had any other children, and in fact my grandfather was raised for much of his childhood by his grandmother. Yet this was in a day and time when a chain of teenaged parents wasn't established, and abortion wasn't condoned... imagine if she was that teen parent today. Thank You, God for Your hand in things.


Anyway, I'm off to various things today. Eid Mubarak for those of you who are Muslims... and everyone, hug someone you love and tell them just why you appreciate them.

peace
TwennyTwo