My Granny was an amazing person. She was born and raised in the hills of Tennessee. She had, I think, 8 brothers and sisters and her parents were mean, abusive alcoholics that were known as moonshiners. She married my grandfather but I don't think that married life was meant for her. She eventually got a divorce and left her three children with their dad. She liked to drink and have a good time. That's what she was raised with, that's what she knew so that's what she did. According to my mother, Aunt and Uncle, she wasn't a very good mother when she was around anyway. I just don't think she knew how. She didn't have much to go on herself.
Granny finally cleaned up her life and found Jesus. She loved church and reading the bible. And boy she loved gospel music. She loved all music I think but gospel was her favorite. She was forever playing Jimmy Swaggard, Elvis gospel and many others. I don't remember the mean woman, the bad mother, the hateful alcoholic. I remember the loving, mostly kind woman who loved Jesus and loved to sing. I remember a woman who loved me. She didn't care much for children but she never made me feel like I wasn't wanted. I wish I could say that for everyone that was in my life as a child. She was patient with me. She taught me about God and Jesus, she took me to church, she taught me to cook and to clean. She showed me charity to others. She wasn't your babysitting, cookie baking Granny, but she did the best she could. I like to think I was her favorite. I at least was the one that was around her the most, that knew her the best. And for sure, loved her the most.
Christmas at Granny's house as some of my best childhood memories. She would put her tree up and decorate the day after Thanksgiving. As I grew up, she would let me help decorate and taught me how to wrap presents. It was always funny to unwrap her gifts because she often got the wrong names on the boxes so you never knew what you were going to get that wasn't yours. She would start cooking days before Christmas and every Christmas Eve my entire family, aunts, uncles, cousins and oftentimes random people that had no where else to go, would pile up in her tiny apartment and celebrate Christmas. Food overflowed from the tables and the noise often reached critical mass. There was music playing and laughter and joy every where. I always ended up at the kids table, no matter how old I got. And one cousin and I always crawled under the tree to pull out the presents and pass them out. Granny never gave expensive presents, she couldn't, she was on a low fixed income. But you knew that what she gave you was from her heart. She got a lot of joy out of giving gifts. Whenever she could, she gave to charities and the "poor children." We were poor children too, but I learned from Granny that there was always someone worse off than we were. If she heard of a family in the neighborhood that was not going to have a good Christmas she would buy presents and convince everyone else to give to the family too. If you were bad, she'd threaten to give your gifts to the "poor children."I remember my Granny being an overall happy person. She took what life gave her and survived it.
She died almost 3 years ago after a long fight with Alzheimer's Disease. The disease stole my Granny from us long before her body gave out. First her body failed her and she was unable to do the things she used to. She couldn't host Christmas anymore, it was too much for her so we moved Christmas Eve events to my Aunt's house, which was bigger anyway. Granny stopped coming after a couple years because she couldn't get up and down the stairs very well. It stole her light, her smile, her joy, her laughter, her heart, her memories. It was so painful to visit her in the nursing home and her not know who you were. Even though she didn't know us, she always welcomed us in to visit with her. She was always kind to my children. She always tried to help the "old people" that lived there. Towards the end, she saw people in the corners of her room that weren't there and talked of going home. I stood by her bedside with family when she died and saw that she found her peace. She is at home with Jesus now and I know that she is watching over us all.
Christmas brings her into my mind more so than any other time of the year. I walked through the lobby of my building a couple weeks ago and smelled sage, it made me think of her cooking dressing for Thanksgiving and Christmas. When I hear Elivs Christmas songs, it brings a tear to my eyes and breaks my heart from missing her so much.Merry Christmas Granny. Tell Jesus happy birthday for me and I pray that I'll see you again when it is my time to come home. The girls remember and love you every day.
Dorothy Mae Orton - January 1924 - January 2006. RIP
