Granny Whitely

When I was growing up, it seemed to me that Granny Whitely had always been old.  But she was old in a good sense: she was old enough to get respect from everyone else, but young enough to have fun with.  I remember Granny Whitely taking out her false teeth and chasing us around with a broom pretending to be an old witch.  And she would wear these old pants to go swimming in.  She called them “pear-shaped”.  At the time I didn’t know why, but later I realized that “pear-shaped” was a spoof on her figure.  Granny got a Social Security check each month, and she got a check from the federal government as a widow from her husband who died on the job in the coal mines in West Virginia.  In order to get her coal miner’s pension check each month, Granny had to mail in an affidavit that she was still alive.  So, Granny would sign the paper and let one of us grandchildren countersign the paper.  We felt very responsible when we signed the government document.  No one in Washington D.C. knew that we were just ten or twelve years old.  That was my introduction to bureaucracy.  Like Granny Whitely, I want to leave a legacy of fun.  I want my five grandchildren to know that their Granddaddy Whitely loved them and that he loved God.  Solomon said in Proverbs 16:31, “The hoary (gray) head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.”  May all that see this gray head know that I love the Lord because He is my crown of glory!