Grandmother said, "No wonder you're hungry all the time."

"How will I live without her?" I whispered. 
"I'll tell you. It's a game I know. It works for me. Just close your eyes and think of what you'd be willing to die for, and then...live for it..."
"The only rule of this game is that whatever you choose has to be alive." (Anne Rivers Siddons, Low Country, pg. 190)

***********************************************************************************

This sounds crazy. I know it does. But one of the things that I remember my Grandmother Cruse saying is that the reason that I'm always hungry is because I chew gum. Have you ever heard of that? It never really bothered me when she said it, but it stayed with me all these years. Even though I no longer chew gum, I still get hungry often, so go figure.

Last week I wrote about my maternal grandparents, primarily Grandad Brame. I'd like to continue this theme in honor of Grandparents' Day. Even though we never lived in the same town as any of our grandparents, we visited them often. Since my sister and I are the oldest grandchildren on both sides of the family, as I stated last week, we probably have the most memories of our grandparents. So, let me introduce you to my paternal grandparents, F.L. and Clara Thompson Cruse. My grandfather died when I was about 10 years old, and we had lived in Brazil for several of the years preceding that time, so I didn't really know him well. But I remember that he was tall and hard-of-hearing, and he drove a black car. I remember that he sometimes gave us Juicy Fruit chewing gum. He was much older than Grandmother, so she must have lived another 30 or 40 years after he died. I do know that Grandad was a hard-working farmer, and he didn't have indoor plumbing until they moved to Upton, Kentucky when I was around 9 years old. The years before that they had raised their five children on their farm near Sonora, Kentucky. Incidentally, Carl Brashear, the first African American to become a U.S. Navy Master Diver was also from Sonora, Kentucky. A movie was made about him starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Robert DeNiro called "Men of Honor." I highly recommend this movie.

So, I digressed...so what do I remember about visiting the Cruses' farm in Sonora? Well, it was hard to sleep because I wasn't used to the sound of the grandfather clock. There was no central heat or air conditioning, of course, so you just had to deal with it. And if you needed to go to the bathroom during the night, be very, very careful because this required a short walk downhill to the outhouse. I didn't enjoy that at all. But we did have good times there. I remember playing with my cousins, Todd and Andrea, when we were very young. They were close to my age so we had fun. I remember the honeysuckle that we used to suck on - that's actually the first time that I ever saw honeysuckle.

Clara Cruse, my grandmother, was a memorable person. Even when I was grown and on my own, I would visit her anytime that I could. I stopped by her small house many times unannounced, and she was always home. One time when I was in my 20s I came down from Louisville to take Grandmother out to lunch for her birthday. I told her that we could go anywhere that she wanted, and she requested "Po Folks" in Elizabethtown. I don't even know if that restaurant chain still exists, but Grandmother loved their beans and cornbread. Dad said that they grew up on this very meal, and so when there wasn't much else, there was usually beans and cornbread. Today my dad still loves beans and cornbread, and so do I. While Grandmother wasn't formally educated, she one taught school in a one-room schoolhouse. She liked to read, especially books by Jesse Stuart of Kentucky, and she knew all about her country music favorites. I think I have a Jesse Stuart book on my shelf that she gave me, and I believe it has a typed letter from Jesse Stuart inside of it. I read several of  his books when I was a teenager.

I pay tribute today to two very different sets of grandparents, Dan & Louise Brame, and F.L. and Clara Cruse. They were all exceptional people, and I am blessed to have been able to spend time with them. My grandparents wrote me many letters over the years, and I saved most of them, so that communication means a lot.

I'm currently reading a self-help book, Rising Strong, by Brene Brown. The author earned her PhD in Social Work. In this book she explores themes such as courage, vulnerability, and shame. I'm not quite finished with the book, but it has given me food for thought. One of the topics in her chapter entitled "Sewer Rats and Scofflaws" is that when people disappoint us, we should ask ourselves, "Do you think, in general, that people are doing the best they can?" Brown suggests that when we ask this we become more compassionate and understanding people.Instead of becoming angry and judging people as we often do, we need to ask ourselves if we think they are acting like this on purpose, or whether they are doing the best that they can. She suggests that when we look for the worst in people, that's all that we will be able to see. I think that this is a very good point. Another chapter is entitled "You Got to Dance With Them That Brung You." It's one of the many "colorful" chapter titles in the book that will hook you.

Here are the next ten books that I've read:

1. Low Country by Anne Rivers Siddons
2. Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger by Ronald J. Sider (very compelling book on ethics)
3. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijia
4. Issues in Christian Ethics by Paul Simmons
5. Anywhere But Here by Mona Simpson
6. New Life for Dying Churches! by Rose Sims
7. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (a classic that everyone should read)
8. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skoot (an amazing story that raises ethical questions that will make you stop and ask, "Where is the justice?")
9. The Blessing by Gary Smalley and John Trent
10. The Gift of the Blessing by Gary Smalley and John Trent

In honor of all of our grandparents, WE LOVE YOU ALL and we hold dear our time with you.
Blessings,

Melissa Hill
Book Blogger
www.onegoobookblog.blogspot.com
Used books: MCH Seller