{"id":9841,"date":"2022-12-13T12:44:54","date_gmt":"2022-12-13T18:44:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theclarion.org\/?p=9841"},"modified":"2022-12-13T12:44:54","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T18:44:54","slug":"simply-yaya-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/?p=9841","title":{"rendered":"Simply Yaya"},"content":{"rendered":"

Grands are the best\u2026<\/strong>
\nY\u2019all ever get convicted about something and sit and watch the world going by, and the thing you\u2019re convicted about seems to be happening all around you? And you wanna grab some folks and shake them and say WAKE UP! Because, well, regrets are hard, and moments are fleeting and well, you get my point.
\nI don\u2019t ask why when God puts people and things and convictions on my heart. Wait. I do, too. Sometimes I think, really? Her? That? Them? And then I pause, take a breath and say, \u201cOkay, God. What am I supposed to do about this?\u201d So, here we go…<\/p>\n

My son lost both of his grandmothers at a young age. One when he was five and one when he was 12. He sure missed out on a lot when he lost those two. Grandmother and Yaya thought he was the bees knees. (Still would, I imagine.) Still do from their view looking down on him. I know he makes them proud. Every day.<\/p>\n

But those GREAT-grands? God showed up and showed out. My dear sweet Granny Gracine. Dylan was very young when she died, and doesn\u2019t remember much beyond \u201cmy Granny in the wheelchair.\u201d Being that I was Granny\u2019s girl, I like to think she left enough of me in her that I passed it on to him the best I can. My Poppa Lewis, well, I\u2019ve shared his love of song.<\/p>\n

Poppa Rice. I can see him now, in his denim overalls, standing at the screen door when we pulled in. Patting Dylan\u2019s head as he walked in and saying, \u201cGranny, look who\u2019s here.\u201d Dylan running full speed ahead because he knew what waited on him inside. Rolling marble eggs in the floor with Granny Rice. Taking his first steps to that red heart ornament on Granny Rice\u2019s Christmas tree. Poppa was kind, y\u2019all. So, so kind. Quite possibly the kindest soul I\u2019ve ever met. And Granny? You never had to wonder what she was thinking. I loved that about her.<\/p>\n

Granny O. Her and Dylan had a love story for the ages, one words and feelings and blog posts can\u2019t describe. She was the lucky one. The one who babysat him when he was young. (The perks and advantages of being the closest, just down the road a-piece one.)<\/p>\n

Poppa Neal. The quiet one. Never much one for words. Dylan would say, \u201cIs that all he ever watches is those westerns on TV?\u201d Yep, pretty much. That and Andy Griffith. I\u2019m ashamed to say I didn\u2019t pass on my passion for Mayberry to my son. That\u2019s painful to admit. Major Southern Momma fail.<\/p>\n

And Granny Neal. At her funeral, they spoke of the twinkle she had in her eye when she spoke. And honestly, that\u2019s the only way it can be described: a twinkle. Granny Neal would have fared well in this masked-up world we live in. She smiled with her eyes, not with the turned up corners of her lips, deep in her eyes.<\/p>\n

You might think this article is about how blessed Dylan was with great-grands, but it\u2019s not; it\u2019s about the dressing. Huh? The dressing? Yes. The dressing. The one of a kind dressing, cooked in a Pyrex bowl in the heart of Granny Neal\u2019s home, the kitchen. That woman could cook, y\u2019all. When I joined the family I had never seen anyone cook their dressing in a bowl. A casserole dish, yes. But a bowl? Never.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s pretty hard to ruin dressing for me; I like it just about any ole way you serve it up, but my favorite way was out of that bowl. It almost had a soup-type consistency to it. She didn\u2019t bake it long, she told me. I do remember having the sense between bites to ask that question. There was nothing like it. Pair it with Deana\u2019s deviled eggs and well, I\u2019m pretty sure you have part of the meal they meet you at the Pearly Gates with. And as I sat on my last visit with her, the thought kept going over and over in my mind….\u201dWho\u2019s gonna make the dressing?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So back to that conviction. I\u2019m gonna need you to listen really close to this part. Write it down if you must:<\/p>\n

EACH TIME WE LOSE SOMEONE FROM THIS GENERATION WE ARE LOSING A WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE WE CAN NEVER, EVER GET BACK.<\/p>\n

And it grieves me, y\u2019all. I get it\u2019s a different age and different time, and this ole world isn\u2019t the same. And I can proudly say I raised a son who \u201cgets\u201d how importantly these folks shaped his life.
\nSoak it in, y\u2019all. Spend every second you can with the ones from this generation that you can. Make the time. Write down the things they say. If they\u2019re gone already, make sure to throw in a good ole Granny Rice story any chance you get. Keep their memories alive. SOAK IT IN. Every heartbreaking, caretaking, tired because you\u2019ve worked all day second. And for the love of all that\u2019s holy, get ahold of those recipes if you can. Ask for lessons if they are still able. Get out the Pyrex bowl and the cornbread and the sage and the onions and say \u201cI ain\u2019t leaving here until you show me how to make this dressing.\u201d<\/p>\n

And another thing, if you\u2019re the generation who is quickly becoming the older generation, don\u2019t let us forget. Even if your grandkids roll their eyes. Even if they don\u2019t act like they\u2019re listening. You never know. They just might be.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s just something about a Southern kitchen. It\u2019s the center of love and home and everything good. Keep it alive. For all the Grannys and Poppas gone on before us, it\u2019s the least we can do.<\/p>\n

-Kim Rice-Holman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grands are the best\u2026 Y\u2019all ever get convicted about something and sit and watch the world going by, and the thing you\u2019re convicted about seems to be happening all around you? And you wanna grab some folks and shake them and say WAKE UP! Because, well, regrets are hard, and moments are fleeting and well, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-simply-yaya"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9841"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9843,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9841\/revisions\/9843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}