For MaMaw

I'm writing this post today in memory of my wonderful grand-mother who we called MaMaw.  I think of her a lot through the days and years of my life but recently I've had her on my mind every day.  This is my round-a-bout story of why. 

When my husband and I retired out here to the South one of the first things I noticed was that on the porch of practically every old farmhouse was an old metal glider.  I would look at them and my heart would race a little bit and I would find myself coveting wanting every glider I saw.  Didn't matter if they were rusty, broken, or perfectly white.  I just knew that for some reason I had to have one.



The quest began.  I looked on Craigslist every few days and never saw any for sale.  I looked on ebay and found plenty but they were terribly expensive and how do you ship one of those things?  I looked at new reproductions of them and they were expensive and not the real deal. 



Reproduction

I have to admit that a few times I contemplated stopping at houses and going to the door and asking if they would sell their glider.  I was actually a little embarrassed at how much I wanted one.

One day  I went into one of our favorite local antique stores and THERE IT WAS!  My glider!!!  The price was right and I bought it on the spot.  I did notice that it had probably been spray painted to spiff it up and that it had a couple pretty good dents in the edge of the seat, but I didn't even let myself think about the negatives.  It came home to reside on my porch. 

So....  I was talking to my mother on the phone and telling her about my glider.  The conversation went something like this:

Me:  "I just feel so weird to say this but I had to have one.  I was starting to dream about having one of my own.  You know what I'm talking about right, Mom?   It is one of those old metal gliders that have the shell shaped back on them."   

Mom:  "Well you figured out why right?" 

Me:  "Why what"?

Mom:  "Why you wanted one so badly"

Me:  "Uh.... no".

Mom:  "Well, honey, MaMaw had one.  Everytime we would go visit, she would be sitting on the porch in her rocker watching for the car to drive up.  You would run and sit on her lap and she would rock and rock you.  You loved her glider - you would sit on it for hours with your dolls.   When you were older you asked if you could have it!"

Suddenly it all came back and I couldn't believe I had forgotten.   I was so thankful to have the memory come back to me.  I could so vividly see my MaMaw sitting on the glider, watching for our old station wagon to pull up, and I could actually see my little girl self cuddling on her lap.  It is such a miracle to me to think of memories that are tucked away in our brain - events that we may not actually remember but yet things will trigger that same feeling that is deeply hidden in our hearts. 

Recently my cousin visited MaMaw and Grampa's old homeplace (long since abandoned) and the only thing I was looking for in the pictures she shared was MaMaw sitting on the glider.  I could almost see her there. 

My grand-babies love to climb all over it!  These precious little girls would be MaMaw's great great grand-daughters.  

I'm a Grandma now and I want to be like my MaMaw.  Sometimes I think I am.  Sometimes I say and do things and I realize that MaMaw said the same thing to me.  Things like, "Of course you can have it"!  I may not have my MaMaw's glider (I'm sure it was long gone many, many years ago), but now I have a white one just like it and when I sit on it, it takes me back and I'm so thankful for that. 

I recognize that it has a lot of "issues".  It squeaks when it rocks (no matter how much I grease it!), it is not exactly the strongest thing - two adults on it are a little bit much for it, and it isn't the most comfortable piece of porch furniture ever made.  But for me, it is the memories, the warm feeling I have when I look at it, that make me happy with it just the way it is!





This picture is of the next generation - MaMaw's great grand-daughters. My cousin's daughter, Sydnee, on the left and my daughter, Andrea, on the right.   Seeing them sitting on my porch in the glider like MaMaw's, I feel like it is a great tribute to her memory. 

What a wonderful MaMaw she was.  I want to be just like her.