Grandma Slump

We love someone. We love someone very much. We love a particular little old lady, one whom we lovingly call Grandma Slump. She is such a nice person, very old, to be sure, but that happens to all of us, if we're lucky.

She sits there in her own forever pose in this photo, wherever she may be today. As to where that is, we might reasonably guess Heaven.

But Grandma Slump is with us right here on Earth, in spirit. Her calm, cool, ability to focus on any issue before her, then to sit and reason it out, wherever it may lead, is what we will aspire to at this blog. When we feel unstable, perhaps out of balance, needing equilibrium, we will look at her feet, planted solidly on the floor for our own grounding. If perhaps we find ourselves tearing out our hair -- be it concerning politics, worldwide crises, or the latest Paula Abdul scandal -- we will observe Grandma Slump, and see her hands resting calmly on her lap. That will bring us back.

The things of man's fashion may change everyday, ever restless. And the incessant demands of the flesh and our own vanity may beckon us toward foolhardy ventures aplenty. But at the end of it all, we have something that others don't have; we have a rock of Gibraltar in Grandma Slump, a singular example of strength and poise in her, a beacon of light on a shore however far away it stands, a place that is home, home and renewal, renewal and true life. In her we see that true life and a graciousness that is without bounds.

Grandma Slump, dear Grandma Slump, we love you with all our hearts!