Grandma Delia

Grandmas love to brag about their grandchildren, but this is one grandchild that would like to brag about her grandma. Now, I’m not leaving out grandpas, I’ll get to them another day.

And though I’m a grandma myself now, I still remember, as a child, my own grandmothers and how I would love to visit them. Especially, my Grandma Delia, with whom I was very close. I couldn’t wait for summer to come so I could spend time with her.

After my grandfather passed away, she became the dietitian at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Ga. She lived on campus. She was a saintly woman and had a heart as big as she was—and that was pretty big. She was the best cook in Tift County, and everybody who ever knew her loved her dearly.

She certainly hadn’t had a life without its problems and heartbreaks, those she certainly had. Some of her children had been a big disappointment, but she was a strong woman, an over comer and God fearing.

She was even raising one of her grandsons, a product of those disappointments. He was my favorite older cousin, and he was the band major. He knew music like no one else I knew. My grandmother did a wonderful job raising him on what little she had. I remember she saved most of her money and did without so she could send him to college in Ohio as a music major. He didn’t disappoint her, because he graduated with honors and went on to get his Master’s degree. How proud she was of him and though I understand far more now, it never mattered to her that she didn’t have the finer things of life, she really had it all.

Even today I can remember sitting in her lap and feeling how warm and soft she was as she read or sang to me. I felt safe and loved there. I think that’s how it is when we’re in Father’s arms, safe and loved. Long ago she went home to be with the Lord, but I’ll never forget her, and the best part is, I’ll see her again when I get there. I do know this, she left such an impression on me to be the best grandma I can be, so that one day, my grandchildren will say, “The best times of my life were when I was with my Awma!