The Ox is in the Ditch

Mary Ann (Molly) Brantley, Minda Maxey, Beulah Tunstall, Nettie Ott Medley, Wayne Kastning

Granny Ott, Aunt Ann Morrow, my brother, Bruce and me.

    I didn't even realize that today was Grandparents' Day until I read it on my Facebook news feed.  You see, I've been extremely busy with school and I have been working in my classroom most of the day.  I know that today is Sunday but as my Granny Ott would say, "The ox is in the ditch."  If you don't know or remember this verse, it is Luke 14, 5-6. 

   Growing up in the Ozarks kids  typically spent a lot of time with their grannies.  Many  young couples, like my parents, moved into the home with the widowed mother.   We were surrounded by a lot of "granny women."  My Granny Ott, of course, lived with us and our neighbor, "Aunt Ann Morrow" was often at our home.  My Great-Granny, Molly Brantley, who raised my mom, would come and stay with us for several days at a time.  Other granny women, including my Great Aunt Nettie Medley, and my Great-great Aunt Mindy Maxey were very much a part of our lives.  The grannies would get together to can, quilt, mend and just visit.  The kids were always playing near the grannies so even though it wasn't a conscious thing,  all Ozarks kids were influenced by the granny women.  Every story they told had a moral.  I'm pretty sure that the episodes of Andy of Mayberry and the Andy Griffith Show were all written by granny women because they all had a moral to the story.

   These women were our role models.  They were strong - they had lived hard lives.   Many, as my Granny Ott, widowed at a young age had to endure the depression and the dust bowl.  They sent their sons off to war.  The plowed the fields and harvested the crops.  They milked the cows and butchered the hogs. Yes, they were strong.  But, they were also tender.  They could calm a scared child, gently "doctor" a skinned knee or a cut finger.  You knew the granny women loved you.  They taught us right from wrong and how to be polite and respectful.  The lessons we learned sitting at their feet, while they shelled peas or peeled peaches, were invaluable.

   So, I say to all the granny women in Heaven,  who helped to shape and mold me into the person that I am today:  Thank you for all of your wisdom, your gentle spirits and your guidance.