Return to Love
As I read Marianne Williamson, I am reminded to: “return to love.” I remember almost 12 years ago hearing Michael Beckwith of Agape in Los Angeles lead his group on a meditation for manifesting and he instructed us to go back to a place of unconditional love. “Tap into that love, that wonderful place and, from that place, begin to dream and design your life,” he suggested.
Well, for me that is a time when my Granny lived 7 houses down the block and I spent a lot of time at her house. Many times, I would ride my skateboard down to her house, get a casserole or something and fly back home. I spent many Friday nights down there, too, hosting slumber parties for friends or cousins.
My Granny was ALL LOVE. She exuded love, lived love and danced love. (Don’t know where that last bit came from, but I’m going with it!)
She was a farmer’s daughter, farmer’s wife and mother of 8 kids. When her first husband died of the swine flu in 1918, she packed her 3 kids up and came back home to Texas from Colorado. Once back home, she moved onto her parents’ farm in West Texas and soon found her next husband, the man who would become MY grandfather. They had 5 children together.
My Granny had a typical farmhouse and no toilet until I was a toddler. I remember going to the outhouse and the commotion when they decided to build the bathroom. It was an “add on” which also included a screened-in porch to the back side of the little white house. Here, me and my cousins would line up on pallets of warm and comfortable blankets for the family visits.
My Granny made me feel so special. She had a way of truly “being” with you. When I was in her presence, I was present. Do you know what that means? I can still close my eyes and smell the smoke house that was a portion of the barn/garage that was built to the side of her house. Later, when she moved to Lubbock to be near us and I was in her kitchen, I watched her bake biscuits, make that terrific gravy and fry chicken.
Yes, my Granny WAS pure LOVE.
One of my favorite summer activities was eating watermelon on her back porch at her house down the street from us. She had rusty old lawn chairs and an old bed spring that we all sat on. We would put the watermelon on a little table and get spoons and dig in. Some people liked to add salt, some did not. We all ate out of the same watermelon half!
When my husband bought a watermelon and cut it into slices and gave me my slice on a plate, it just wasn’t the same. Yes, I can imagine that there were germs being shared when we all ate from one piece with our spoons. But, in those days in the innocent ‘60’s, we didn’t have a phobia of germs, bacteria or viruses of any kind. No worries about eating after a loved one.
“Loved one.” I’ve said that word thousands of times and never stopped to think.
One that I love. That’s my Granny! Thank you for teaching me about love!
