There are a lot of things that you can learn from the older generation if you just sit down, slow down, close your mouth and pay attention.
One person who has taught me a great deal, was my great-grandmother Cora Smith, also affectionately known by my brothers and I as Granny.
I am the oldest grandchild of her oldest son. I spent my childhood over at her house.
Every chance I got, I spent the night and would sucker my mom into taking me over after school.
Granny would eat it up, she would tell me stories, play and let me run amok.
What I never realized was how much I was learning during these visits.
This week was the fifth anniversary of the passing of my granny and I could think of no better way to honor her memory then by telling you what she taught me.
She taught me to care for myself.
She was a very hands-on grandmother. Instead of putting me in front of the TV with cartoons while she made dinner, she would drag a stool right beside her and explain to me everything she did.
The older I got, the smaller the stool became and the more I cooked–she observed.
She also sat me down and showed me how to sew by hand.
At six-years-old she helped me make a lap quilt for my mother. My mom still has it today.
Now that I am an adult, when I go to repair my son’s clothes or add a button back to my jacket, I get to think of her and smile.
She taught me to appreciate the beauty of what God had made.
My granny loved flowers. Her yard was covered in different plants and she kept them in immaculate condition as long as she could care for them herself.
I remember helping her to deadhead, when you remove the dead rose heads off of the bush, while on spring break in kindergarten.
I loved her garden so much that I started my own rose garden in fourth grade.
She also loved hummingbirds. We would sit on her back porch and watch the hummingbirds that would buzz her feeder.
She taught me how to guide the little ones.
As the matriarch of our family and the mother of seven children, Granny had a lot of people to look after.
She was never one to yell or get mad. In fact, I can’t recall a single time she raised her voice to me, or any of my cousins.
Instead she led her family with a gentle hand. She believed the best way for her family to live is by love and prayer.
She prayed for her children and their descendants every day of her life, and she made sure her home was one of affection and that her babies never doubted her love for them.
We sang, danced and generally had good clean fun anytime we were together.
Most importantly she taught me how to love others whole-heartedly.
Granny always said she may not have a lot of worldly possessions, but she had her family–so she was more than rich.
Her family loved nothing more than spending any extra time they had at her house.
Although we only got together as a big group three to four times a year, Granny’s house was a constant revolving door. It was no big deal for Granny to have someone over every day of the week, just wanting to visit and spend time with her.
My granny’s love never stopped at just those who were blood.
I saw on more than one occasion where my cousins would bring a new boyfriend or friend over and they were dragged into the house and were fed and treated like any member of her family.
I was raised to believe that people are inherently good, and that you showed others respect and love on them as they are, with no strings attached. These things were cemented in me, in part from watching her do it.
I like to think that she looks down on all of her babies and smile. I hope she sees the things she has taught us in the way we live our lives.
Haley Smith is a staff writer for El Dorado News-Times. She can be contacted by phone at 870-862-6611 ext. 121 or by email at [email protected]. She can also be followed on facebook and twitter @hsmithEDNT.