Ganny & Gandaddy

My mother-in-law, Dixie Godwin, died Sunday and was buried yesterday. My two children, Narcie and Josh, who are both United Methodist Ministers did the service. My youngest, Caleb, was a pall-bearer. Ganny, as Narcie named her years ago would have been so proud. The service was perfect! Ganny has been at Agape Rehab 3 miles from Cindy’s school since the first of February. They were marvelous to her and I cannot thank them enough.

Ganny was a wonderful mother to Cindy and Guyeth, and mother-in-law to Rob and me. There could not have been a better grandmother to Narcie, Josh, Caleb, Lindsay, Doug and her great-grandchildren, Enoch and Evy. She lived her faith and enjoyed life. She had so many friends and a colony of “lost boys” to whom she was a surrogate mother. She was extraordinary in so many ways. As much as we will miss her, her decline reminds us how blessed we were that she was still “with it” until she died suddenly on Sunday. They had told her Friday that she had some form of leukemia and were preparing her for treatments. We wouln’t have wanted her to suffer any more, but she lived life to the full until the end. She made friends out of every nurse and adapted to life’s changes with a God-given grace that was amazing.

Two weeks ago tomorrow we took her to see the movie “Julie & Julia.” She loved it! She was a story-teller and librarian. She and Gandaddy were truly educators. They both taught us how to live and die. They’re together again as they should be. They have left a legacy for all of us, and we’re thankful.

Church: Exercise Without Endorphins

>Cindy and I had an adventure yesterday. We took her mom, who has been either bed-ridden or wheelchair-bound for the last 7 months, to a movie. She is improving and we’re getting close to her last hurrah. She has surgery a week from Friday, and who knows if she’ll make it in her condition.

Nevertheless, we had a great day, with a few tense moments. We took her to see the movie, “Julia & Julie” about Julie Powell cooking and blogging her way through Julia Child’s Mastering French Cooking. It was a feel-good flick that was authentic and amazing. Meryl Streep deserves the “Best Actress” Oscar.

 

The tense moments in the adventure were timing (it’s difficult to handle a wheelchair on a schedule, not to mention a frail 76-year-old), the thick traffic on Saturdays on Harbison Blvd. which is atrocious, and our sheer fatigue from long weeks at work. But we made it and it was worth it.

 

However, in the inimitable words of my dad, “They didn’t have to rock me to sleep last night,” meaning someone is so tired it’s an effortless thing to just hit the pillow and count down from 10 and you’re out. One cute thing happened as we grabbed a quck bite to eat on the way home though. The cashier mentioned how exhausted we looked (never a good sign). She asked if we had been doing yard work or something to tire us out. I said, “No, her mother in a wheel chair and a movie.” Cindy spoke up and said, “Yeah, but tomorrow is Sunday. It’s the day of rest.” Then I said, “We’ll go to church and have Sabbath.” The the profound words from the cashier: “Depends on the church. Some churches will tire you out, too. It depends on what they’re talking about.”

 

How unfortunately true! Some churches will wear you out no matter what they’re talking about, sometimes worse depending on the preacher’s words. Rather than being energized, it can be deflating. We/I need to do something about that. May it not be so today! Church shouldn’t be exercise without endorphins!