A Visit

My grandfather came for lunch today. It was the first time he and his wife, Miss Anne had ever seen our house. My mom called me on Thursday to warn me that he was planning to stop by on his way home from visiting one of Miss Anne’s sons in the upstate. Now, I love my grandfather but I was terrified and immediately thrown into a tizzy. He is very no nonsense, has a way he thinks things should be and is very vocal about his opinions. Ever since I was a little girl I have known “Papa means business.” So you can imagine my despair as I looked around my little house at all the things out of place, things with no place, things not working, and things to make things work that were strung all over the place! Since then I have spent hours cleaning, organizing and just plain stressing out all for the end result of not that much difference! And you know what? He didn’t even care! He said it looked great and he thought we were doing a fine job of fixing everything and that pretty soon we would have it how we wanted. All that worrying over the boxes still unpacked in the office (and everything else) was for nothing! He totally understood. I guess the point I am trying to make with this story is that I’m glad my respect for my grandfather makes me set higher standards for myself and I’m glad his love for me helps him understand when I haven’t quite gotten there. It was really good for me to see that acceptance from someone I think so much of because I worry all the time about the state my house is in. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t let anyone in until it was absolutely perfect! Luckily I have Cory to realize that the people who love us will understand we are in the middle of a very long process and appreciate where we are now without thinking about how far we still have to go! The fact that is story applies to life as well as to houses is purely coincidental. :)

Papa and me at my wedding reception. Yes, I do wish I had inherited his dark skin tone but alas, no.