love for the lovely

Undeniably, I have praiseworthy grandparents. They are all four fantastic, faithful, loving, clever people and I love them each so dearly. Last weekend I had the chance to visit with both sets.

I spent Friday night at Grandma and Grandpa P's house after flying in late from Austria. It was close to midnight when I arrived, but Grandpa P was up waiting for me. He hugged me and offered me a late night snack and directed me to my room, where Grandma P had left warm rice pillows between the neat sheets of my bed. I did some geneology with Grandma P in the morning, and then sat and talked with Grandpa P. He told me about buying a computer in 1984 for $4,200 so that Grandma could do family history work on it. He demonstrated for me his knack for forging signatures, and told me about how he used to write notes excusing his high school friends when they came late to school, and sign the principle's signature to them. He never got caught--even the principle couldn't tell the difference between his own signature and Grandpa's imitation of it. He showed me that signature and his father's signature, which he said he once signed to a check in front of a bank teller. When the teller asked if that was his signature and Grandpa said no, the teller refused to cash it. "Well," he said, "I'll take it across the street and they'll cash it for me" and that's just what he did. Grandpa was a professional hypnotist for 18 years, and I asked him about that. He told me that he bought a book on hypnotism for $2.50 while in his teens, and started out by hypnotizing the chickens on his family's farm. Of course chickens couldn't take commands, but he could put them in a trance and they would wander around afterwards off-balance and cross-eyed. He told me about the power and the dangers of hypnotism and why he doesn't practice anymore. I was sad to have to go when Benj picked me up, but promised to come back to visit soon.

We picked up Becca and drove to Grandma and Grandpa C's, where we enjoyed a delicious dinner and then congregated in the living room for cheerful conversation. Grandpa C has a wonderfully gentle sense of humor, and Grandma C is an unparallelled story-teller. They are great examples of love and wit. On this particular visit, Grandma told us the history of her beautiful black cat. She is a delicate, long-haired variety who lived wild in the neighborhood until the wild cats were caught and taken to a shelter in another town. As I remember her telling it, it was a week later that the cat showed up again in Grandma's yard, covered in burrs and mud, and Grandma slowly tamed her and eventually brought her into the house. She is a sweet cat but quite flighty. One day she brought a little black and white kitten out from the bushes and presented it to my aunt, who later took it home to live with her. That kitten grew to be about 3 times as big as his "mother", and bears no resemblance to her in build or fur or personality. Grandma says "mama kitty" was never pregnant anyway, and that there is another stray cat around that looks just like the now-grown kitten and is just as large--so she thinks mama kitty is a kidnapper. :-) Whatever the case, those two cats are more attached than any others I have ever seen. They love to play and snuggle and groom each other. Thinking about that shy little cat stealing a kitten from another cat always makes me smile. Before we left, Grandpa spent a moment with each of us, holding our young hands in his large farmer hands that have become so soft over the years. He spoke kindly and told us each how much he loves us.

I'm grateful for these earthly angels in my life.