Thursday, January 16, 2014

Article #277 More Grandparent Stories

           I’m looking for your ROUGH DRAFT stories (200-300 words) about your grandparents. Send them to me via a comment. I’ll choose a few to publish and give you some editing tips for your use. Tell me if you want your name published with your writing.

A dear friend of mine who is quite the talented writer sent me the following vignette about her grandmother. Notice the details. GLADYS BROWN by Caryn Stott. She was an Irish colleen with a perfectly formed Bottecelli angel’s pouty mouth, periwinkle eyes and thick hair the color of licorice with the shine of a new limousine. She only stood 5’2”, but she could bend the entire universe to her will.  She didn't cause things to happen with force, but with wit, grace, and the gentle ways of women born in the late 1800’s. With an air that would bring a description of “demure” to mind and yet, the word most used to describe her was “saucy,” she was not one to be trodden underfoot. 

When she laughed, it wasn’t the tinkling of a bell...it was full of gusto. She had always wished that she had been able, just once, to jump a train and travel like a hobo while she was young. There has never been a pigeonhole that could hold my grandmother. I suppose what I loved about her above all else was that elusiveness.  The fact is she was so multi faceted.  She was in many ways, today’s woman. Independent. Willful. Strong. Yet, she held the mystic, magical quality of yesteryear’s womanhood. Mysterious. Coquettish. So unbelievably soft. Ahhh, to be such a woman.  

            Caryn has a way with words and uses them well to describe her grandmother’s physical, spiritual, and emotional qualities. I can almost picture this woman from this well written vignette or excerpt that pays loving tribute to an important person that was a great influence on her grand daughter.

Hopefully you have someone in your family, no matter their age who can help you capture your family’s legacy in words. Gather their facts and info as well as stories from your youth to write a rough draft. Then, involve others in your family help you put flesh on the bones of your story. Perhaps a grandchild is a talented writer? Do you have a favorite relative that needs their life story written? Let’s have more stories submitted.  NEXT TIME: Remembering Grandpa. 

1 comment:

  1. Gladys Evans Thomas Holman…My grandmother was from Cornwall, England, maintaining her English citizenship until she died. Scared but obedient enough to travel to America to wed another Cornwallian man her parents had chosen. Wise enough to divorce him when my mom was 8 (when she felt mom was old enough to make the decision to go or stay) to end the drunken rages, the beatings and the abuse. She went from being very wealthy to very poor but in the end, marrying the man of her dreams, she needed for nothing else. She had 3 other children, one son died in infancy, one died at 18 months by falling into a cistern (she lowered a huge neighbor man by his belt to retrieve her son) and finally another daughter.
    My grandmother had suffered from Rheumatic Fever as a child, before the advent of penicillin and was always frail, walking with a shortened leg but one so strong in so many ways…actually outliving the love of her life by 22 years! She sang like an angel with an amazing contralto voice. Accepted the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and despite having lost 2 of her children she maintained her love of children and taught Primary her whole life.
    The biggest lesson I learned from her besides love and acceptance was to never divulge anything that was said or done in our home. If an adult were to ask me a question on such issues, I was to say, “ you will need to ask my mom that”. She taught her daughters and this I taught my children.
    Grandma lived with us after widowhood, always had time to sit and tell a story from her childhood, or listen to us talk and offering advice when asked. I miss her to this day!

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