She Did

She'd putter around the garden and yard all morning long. When it was announced that it was time to go inside for lunch, it would take another ten minutes to walk from the garden to the house because she'd see something on the lawn - a dandelion, no doubt - and would stoop down and dig it up. She hated dandelions. Then she'd see a branch that needed pruning, so she'd stand on her tip-toes and cut it with those tiny hand sheers she carried with her every where. She loved her trees and her plants, my Gram did.

Finally, we'd make it inside for lunch where she always fed us a delicious lunch. Except when she'd force feed us hominy -- definitely not a favorite, which she knew, but insisted that it was good for us. As tradition held, we'd have lunch over the Game Show Network until Matlock came on (1 pm on KJZZ 14). She loved Matlock, my Gram did.

Two o'clock would roll around and it was back outside to the grind. More work in the garden, more puttering around the yard in the heat of those summer days. After a few more hours of us complaining about the heat, we'd go back inside and relax for the rest of the afternoon until Mom came to pick us up. We took those lazy afternoons to watch the Disney Channel, a luxury for us, while Grandma cut beans for canning or shelled walnuts. She loved her walnut trees, my Gram did.

And then Mom would come. We'd say bye to her, each of us knowing we'd be back the next day, and the next day after that, and every day after that until summer's end and fall's begin brought the start of a new school year. Every summer day we'd spend with her, not realizing how special that time was. Because she loved us, my Grammy did, more than we ever knew.