Good Sunday morning friends…. it’s a beautiful day here in Tulsa…. a touch on the nippy side, but a hell of a lot better than HOT! I’m sitting outside and soaking up the cool breeze and blogging. Not a bad way to spend the day.
I saw this shot of my dear aunt and uncle with their grandbabies… and they are in grandparent heaven…. they are loving this part of their lives. My uncle Steve is newly retired and aunt Denbie is getting closer to that herself. There will be more time for loving those babies and enjoying their wonderful life together…
The thought that came to mind when I saw the smiles on their faces, was one of my “life lessons” learned early on…. also, let it be known that MANY of my “life lessons” came from these two, in one way or another…. and I am beyond thankful for them in my life.
Steve’s parents Don and Ann Nash… lived in Hugo, Oklahoma and had a HUGE pecan tree farm! Huge…. especially to a child’s eyes. Every once in a while we would head down there during harvest and pick pecans…. it was a wonderland for kids and adults alike. Everyone had a great time… and worked hard also!
One afternoon we were sitting around the dinner table, having pecan pie: I mean, what else would you have? Ann and I had a great relationship… she was fun and smiled more than just about any human I knew. She had an awesome laugh that could be heard way out into the pecan groves. We were cutting up about, God knows what… and when Ann got up to clean the table one of my elders who was entirely too wrapped up in “appearances” quietly told me not to laugh so loud and not to cut up so much. Now, in her defense, I was probably 10 years old and probably needed all the “help” I could get…. but it seemed odd to me that she had thought I had done something wrong or not appropriate.
Eventually everyone left the table individually and I went to the staircase and sat on the step watching Ann finish in the kitchen and she walked over and nudged my chin… apparently having heard what I had been told….she said “Now you listen to me, this is my house and I have say-so over what goes on within these walls… and you sir, are to laugh as loud as you like, as much as you like and you don’t even think twice about it.” I certainly liked that option better. 
We continued to laugh during that visit and many more to follow. The major lesson of course was laughter is always appropriate…. always. But the other lesson that syncs up as I get older, is that…. Every human, the aforementioned elder included, shares the same characteristic of operating from a place of knowing…. and as Maya Angelou said, “You know better, you do better.”
So thank you Steve for sharing your mother with us while she was here…. she was truly special and touched all of our lives. And so have you. Who knows how many wonderful things you and Denbie will “unknowingly” teach those babies…. they are luckier than they know.
