Three Old Souls

Last week I took five days and visited my grandparents in Florida.

I started out the week in Crestview FL. It's in the panhandle west of Panama City Beach. Zeich and Cleo Chavis have lived there for five decades now. We spent our time sitting in the living room and talking about the past, the future and the latest neighborhood gossip. Granny always knows what's going on. Grandpa is soon to be 92 and he has a tendency to fall asleep while talking to folks. Granny always gets on to him for it (even though she does it herself) but I told her that after being around as long as he has and doing everything that he has done, he deserves to take a nap when ever he feels like it. As Grandpa worked his way around the kitchen preparing dinner, Granny was inquiring if I had run across any of the vast number of relatives I have here in North Carolina. Occasionally she would shout up to Grandpa to illicit a reaffirmation of what she had just told me. He usually responded with a quick "yup". I'm not sure if he really knew what she had said, but after 62 years of marriage, Grandpa has learned just to agree sometimes. I think that they had a hard time grasping just exactly where I was going and why I was going there. But they liked it either way.

The second part of the week was spent in Orlando visiting my mom's mother, Dot Revels. She is in a nursing home over there. I'll just put it how she likes to state it and say that she is having trouble remembering things. With 6 children, 10 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren, Mama Dot has spent many years as the nucleus of a large and close family. It is sad that she can't remember everything but she seems to be in good spirits and is enjoying life day to day. One persistent thought in her head seemed to be of Grandpa Carl, her husband that died back in the late 70's. She talks of missing him and how he would enjoy hearing about all of his family’s exploits. It's amazing that her love for him is still so strong after almost 30 years of living without him. I guess he really never left her.

I don't know that I have ever just sat there for a few hours and talked with my grandparents. It was great to sit there and listen to them talk about family, when they were young and the joys of growing old together. You can't help but try and soak in everything they say. I'm not sure how at this point in my life, but I can't help but think that these three people played some part, be it major or minor, in me deciding to do what I am setting out to do.