And I listened

I had to be four or five when I first heard the golden rule  “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  These words uttered by my mother when my sister and I accidentally tied my brother to a tree (mainly my sister). My mother’s use of the rule, I believe, was to appropriately socialize the two of us. Yet, even at that tender age, I knew we couldn’t just stand by when he, my brother, scared, teased, and, generally, irritated us most of the time. WE were the victims as my older sister tried to explain. But, later, Grandmother McKenney disagreed. And I listened.

Paying Attention
Learning what to do and not do is the quintessential challenge of a lifetime. And whom we listen to matters. Who are your mentors, your beacons? Those superstars who extend their hands to you?  Light up your life? Without them, how else do we know honesty, forgiveness, joy, friendship, humility? Limits and boundaries, discover we’re lovable and capable, that beauty surrounds us?  “And fear,” as my Grandma used to say, “makes the wolf bigger than he is.” And I listened.

Who on this wide kingdom makes you feel sheltered and encouraged?

At my small elementary school, mostly good teachers. Lessons in Nebraska history, Palmer writing, division and multiplication. Yes, wait three minutes to be dismissed while the upper grades paraded out. Etcetera. But there was no one on this green earth who got me, who saw in me shades of promise, of heart, than Grandmother M. Cora McKenney was a person of enormous empathy and unstoppable fun. Her fire for living lit a fire in me, and I listened:

Lessons Learned
From Grandma I learned that dark shapes in the night aren’t monsters only shadows.

Grandma still had big dreams about tomorrow. One day, she said she was going to be a famous chef (making liver and onions) or write a book Why You Can’t Stop Trying.

She swore she saw the same green spaceship that I did and loved gladioli, starlings and planting silly kisses on Grandpa.

I learned from her that if I laid down on the back seat of her ’61 blue Chevy, the bumps made me laugh.

Grandma said nice people come in all colors and shapes. And when they die, they stay inside you.

She taught me that once you truly know something you know it for a long time. When two people love each other stars are named after them and you can see them in the night sky your whole life.

Grandma was the only person I ever saw talk with flowers and get REAL answers.

I learned that praying doesn’t need to happen with your eyes closed. That’s it okay to walk down a field and yell “Thank you.”

And girls with big feet are a sign of wisdom.

More than anything, I learned from Grandma that life is pretty short so you better do all you can to live it. And I listened.

Writing/Creativity Exercise:

• Read Soaking Up Sun https://www.slowdownshow.org/episode/2020/06/22/411-soaking-up-sun by Tom Hennen and The Changed Man https://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3Fdate=2007%252F04%252F02.html by Robert Phillips.
• Listen to Josh Groban’s You Raise Me Up https://www.google.com/search?q=you+raise+me+josh+groban&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS938US938&oq=You+Raise+me+Josh+Groban&aqs=chrome.0.0i355i512j46i512j0i22i30l8.13513j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8.
• How is it possible for “silence” to teach you about a person’s beliefs?
• List five people who light up your life. Are they like a conductor, North star or a rock? Other?
• How do you know when a lesson is learned?
• Now, create a picture, lines to a poem or song from someone you listened to.