Grateful #12

Gram was a hoot. I loved that about her. I'm grateful for Gram's sense of humor; I'm grateful that I know that funny is important.

Making Do, Part 3:

I grew up and started my own family. Gram came to visit, at first, while our grandfather’s health was still good. She told my children of her own childhood. During the depression she lived with her parents, her aunt and uncle, and her grandmother. Gram called her grandmother Ma, and Ma was a dynamo. Ma took care of Gram when she was a little girl because her mother worked. Ma was busy with her church and always looking for ways to help other people. Gram went along with Ma as she did her church work, learning how to be charitable and how to love the people she served. We learned that Ma never threw anything away before it was remade into something else. The worn out centers of sheets were thrown away while the still useful edges were made into handkerchiefs. Tattered blankets were given another life when covered with new fabric and re-quilted. Leftover food was never discarded. It was served again, and then again, until there was nothing left. Wasting food was a sin, right up there with adultery and murder. Whatever you needed was fashioned from materials at hand. You made your own clothes. You made your own bread. You made your own toys. You made do. “How do you make do?” my daughter asked. We laughed, but we know she will learn.