Grandparents

[reporting from Haiti]

Grandma and grandpa…remember them, those old guys who walk at one mile an hour, who never stop talking, a lot of times mumbling because those fake teeth-gum sets are falling out, can’t control their anatomical emanations (pick your hole, whichever), yet still manage to make a mean dinner, leaving the whole family speechless. They’ve seen a lot, they’ve endured a lot living on this planet. So why doesn’t God spare them and let them join Him once their purpose has been served? Maybe it’s because their purpose will never be fully served. Grandparents are able to teach us the lessons of the past better than any history book that has ever been written about anything. Why is that? Because they were there and they know their family and they know how to apply the past to the present for a better future for their descendants. And as much as some of us may hate to admit, we all want some of that knowledge and wisdom. I witness this when I come home from work as there is always some stranger in our house talking to my grandmother about their past experiences with someone, something that happened to them in their homes, troubles with their offspring, anything that comes to mind. Some of these stories seem utterly absurd to me and I find no solution to them at all. But somehow, my grandmother always finds something, either from a dream, or from her past to relate to them and give them advice. Ever since our grandfather died, my grandmother has endured a lot, losing her life partner for more than 50 years. She went through a stroke, blood pressure hikes and such. Yet, she always comes out stronger and even wiser. We can see her suffering from time to time and we wonder why God doesn’t take her away. The reason is none other than that God knows we still need her and that we cannot fend for ourselves without her as much as we try to prove we can. We become wiser as we grow older, as we learn and experience from life. The fact that we continue to learn can only come from those who have been there before us. Just because we declare our independence from the house we were raised in, something always brings us back, whether it is the comfort, that home sweet home feeling, or the nostalgia of childhood memories that always finds a way to get back to our heart. That feeling is what is left of little humanity still exists in the insane world we live in today. This is a tribute to grandparents all over the world, as they are one of the main reasons we haven’t self-destructed yet. Another proof God still loves us? Why not? You’d be surprised