Happy Birthday, Grandmother Baker

Today my Grandmother Baker would have been 111 years old.  To be absolutely honest about it, I did  not appreciate my Grandmother when I was growing up.  My Grandad, now that was another matter.  I adored him and would have walked to China if he had asked me to do it.  But, I was a grown woman before I realized how much my Grandmother Baker had taught me.

Oddly enough this mess in Tuscon has brought her to my mind and heart.  My Grandmother believed that the Bible was a literal gift from God.  She believed that a real Adam and a real Even lived in the Garden Eden, and that the world had been created in six days, and on the seventh day the Lord rested.  I can remember once , as a kid,  I said something absolutely heretical in Sunday School.  I am pretty sure I said something about the veracity of the Immaculate Conception.  At any rate, one of my fellow Sunday School students went home and told his Mother who told my Grandmother who called my Father.  Ended up with me having to go talk to the Preacher.  Daddy told me to just sit there, listen and go tell Grandmother that I had seen the light.  Because Daddy so very rarely told me to do anything, when he did speak up, I listened.   It worried her, most dreadfully, when I converted to Judaism.  

But, here is what I learned from her.... No matter what her beliefs may have been, I do not believe that she ever, ever, not once, not ever  said an unkind word about anyone else's beliefs.   Everyone's beliefs and opinions were, to my Grandmother, to be treated with respect and politeness. Of course, I, also, knew that, once the person with the different beliefs was out of sight, my Grandmother would be on her knees praying for their soul. However, she would never have dreamed of hurting their feelings or being unkind.  It just was NOT something WE did.  I, so very much, wish that those who feel the need to rant, say hurtful things, do hurtful things to those who do not hold the same beliefs as they do, had known my Grandmother.

The other thing that I inherited from my Grandmother was her deep, deep, downright cellular love for her family.She breathed every breath she ever drew for her family .  Every morning, when my Grandad left for work, she would stand at the dining room window and wave good bye to him.  When I asked her why, she said she wanted to make sure that he knew that he was loved.  He did.

I am attaching this picture so you can see the way she looked at my Dad.  When I found this picture among my things, I posted it on my facebook page for my family to see.  I mentioned to my cousin, Jana, that I was unsure if the man she was looking at was my Dad or our Uncle Troy.  Jana nailed it when she said, 'Well, I hardly think Grandmother would be sitting there with her hand on Uncle Troy's knee, and besides, look at the way she is looking at your Dad.  That is her baby!'

Happy Birthday, Freda Lorraine Capps Baker. I'm sorry I was such a little snot, and if it helps, I named my first child after you.