NANA’S HOUSE by Teresa Kindred
It’s amazing how our perspective on life changes so much through the years.
I can remember my teen years, when I didn’t know what it was like to not have my parents watching out for me. All my friends and I were young and healthy, and our biggest decisions were about what we were going to wear Saturday night or who we would see while we were out riding around town.
Of course there were no cellphones back then, and our town was so small that we didn’t have a stop light, just a caution light that winked mischievously at us day and night. My friends and I copied down the number of the pay phone on the square and thought it was ridiculously fun to call and see who would answer. (And no, it wasn’t 867-5309. If you don’t know that number, you probably aren’t old enough to understand most of this post).
We spent hours playing word scrabble with signs around town. We’d take the letters off and rearrange them to make them say something we thought was funny. Once we took a relative’s underwear and ran it up the school’s flagpole. (Don’t ask me whose bloomers; my lips are sealed).
Should we have done those things? Of course not. Would I do it again? Of course not, but I’m not 16. In fact, I’m a wayyyyy past my teen years. Looking back, it was such a time of innocence. My friends and I thought we were really wild, but by today’s standards we were about as wild as Roy Rogers’ horse, Trigger, when Trigger was 20 years old.
Fast Forward
Today I have a beautiful 15-year-old granddaughter and a slew of cute little grands growing faster than weeds. I love them more than I love a beautiful sunset in the Florida Keys, but I know that giving them advice is like Jim Croce sang:
“You don’t tug on superman’s cape. You don’t spit into the wind. You don’t pull the mask off that old lone ranger, And you don’t mess around with Jim.”
Passing out unasked-for advice (especially to teenagers) is pointless. However, I will do my best to live a life that shows them what maturity and Jesus can do. Showing them how to live is ten times more powerful than telling them.
Mom Was Right
I remember my Mom telling me, “If you have your health, you have everything.” She told me a lot of things and the older I get the more I can affirm … she was always right.
The past few months have been hard. Watching my husband fight COVID and an autoimmune disease at the same time has been one of the biggest challenges of my life. Thank you, Jesus, for giving me Christian parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who prayed for me and modeled how to be a faith-filled Christian.
Grandparents Are Examples.
My hope and prayer is that I am half the example to my grandchildren that my parents and grandparents were to me.
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Teresa Kindred is a freelance writer, former teacher, and author of several books, including The Faith-Filled Grandmother. She’s the mom of five grown children and “Nana” to seven precious grandchildren. She and her husband live in Kentucky. Her blog for grandparents is at NanaHood.com.
