“Walk of Love”

She walked in certainty towards the garden with a purpose driven by a grandmother’s love. My grandmother, almost 78 years old at the time, never let age stop her from tradition and her evening walks to the garden would prove to be a very significant one. I always did everything with my granny, following her around like a shadow and ready to assist with daily task. Granny was always very accepting of my help but her evening walks to the garden was something she always did alone. She would purposely wait until I was bathed, dressed and ready for bed before even attempting her evening mission. It was okay with me because the fact that I wasn’t included made it seem mysterious. I would watch from my bedroom window as she would push herself with every step to make it up to that garden.” What is so important that made her so adamant about those walks?” A question I would ask myself many times! Well, that is until curiosity got the best of me one day and I simply blurted out, “Granny, why do make those trips to the garden on certain evenings?” She just giggled her distinctive giggle and said “ well darling, I go to fertilize the pear tree!

The pear tree on the far end of my granny’s garden was a tree that I was all to familiar with. You see every afternoon, just after lunch, my granny would sound the cow bell to get my attention. In the event of hearing that bell I would stop whatever adventure I was in the middle of and run straight for the garden. I ran through our field full of cow’s grazing while doing a little zig zag movement to avoid each, passed the old well to which I would do my famous jump and leap over, crossed through Enus’s place who was our Choctaw Indian neighbor, and finally climbed very carefully through the barbed wire fence that separated our land from The Band Of Choctaw Indian Tribes land, then ran all the way until finally arriving at the pear tree. There I would gather up all the pears that had fallen that day using my shirt as a bucket by pulling on the bottom and dropping them all in, then carry them in to kitchen where my granny was aproned up and ready to begin the process of preserving pears. We started the process out with peeling and cutting the pears, together we both peeled the pears and Granny would do the chopping part, then dropped them in the boiling pots she had heated and ready for them to go in. As the pears boiled we measured out all the necessary ingredients them added them to the pots. Now my granny always had a way of making the simplest of things seem fun or important by, instead of asking or telling me to do something, she would “assign” it to me as a job. So of course when she gave me the job of watching and stirring the boiling pears, I took it very seriously! Any opportunity to see a look of pride on my granny’s face I would jump on. Her face told so many details of her character. After finishing them we would do a taste test by spreading a spoonful of the pear preserves over pieces of toast. Of course my granny’s pear preserves were the best in the county and she had ribbons to prove it. Not only that but people would come from other counties to buy a jar of her pear preserves.

Preserving pears was hands down my favorite time to spend with my granny but I had no idea that it would one day benefit me in a very big way! I remember thinking that her fertilizing the pear tree really meant she was using some kind of magic potion to make them taste so good! It wasn’t until she died years later that my thoughts became true, that tree did have a little magic in it!

My mother and I lived with my granny from the time I was two until her death which occurred just after I turned eighteen. I had never known a day of sadness until that day came. I lost so much when she died, my life was so meaningful being around her and I never thought I would have that again. My high school graduation took place one month after she passed and I was just devasted that my granny would not be there to watch me accept my diploma. All I was thinking during the ceremony was, “I wish you just could have held on a little bit longer Granny” “after all this was was part of your dream to remember!” “It was so important to you that I get my education, ” and that’s when it hit me“college!” I made a promise in to my granny that no matter what I would go to college!” By the time I was walking across the stage to except my diploma my mood had shifted from disappointed to now panicked! There simply were no other options for me when it came to that promise, I could not let her down! I was so consumed with grief from losing her, I thought of nothing else! It was in that promise where I began to find purpose again. In all our time spent together we would have what my granny called “our special talk’s” and those “special talks” where mainly about me going to college, getting an education so that I could be whatever I wanted to be in life. But most of all be able to have a life free from the kind of struggles that she endured in hers. She made it sound so exiting that I could not wait to accomplish this! It was how important it was to her that made me want it and now the time has come for me to do so.

Here I am application in hand , ready to begin my journey as a college student by enrolling in classes at our local community college. I had planned to start there then move my way up to a University somewhere. But those plans quickly faded during my meeting with the college counselor when it came to the question, “ how are you planning to pay for schooling?” Stupid me got caught up in the whole excitement of it and determination of fulfilling a promise that it never occurred to me about the financial part of college. Needless to say I was devasted once again, my grades were not quite good enough for a scholarship and thanks to my mother’s new job as head nurse at the hospital I was not able to receive any financial aid and one thing my granny expressed was to never go in debt so that knocks out student loans. I could not let her down, if only I knew what to do? I kept thinking of how much I wish she was here to help me, she would find a way I just knew she would! It didn’t help matters when my mother sat me down to tell me she was selling the house, my granny’s house. My mother had her own student loans to pay off and she was desperate for a new start in a new town as well. Sense my granny left the house to her that’s what she decided to do. All would not be lost though because my granny did leave me a pretty big piece of land, the part that the garden and our pear tree on. I tried really hard to hold on to that if nothing else. But still I was left with the thought of fulfilling my promise to my granny. I would have to find a job and just keep saving until I had enough, which in all reality could be years. The thought of this put me in a state of depression so I began to stay in bed a lot. I slept for what seemed like forever, that is until the day my mother came in with a letter and woke me up.

I saw my mother standing over me and she was shaking me saying something about a letter when I suddenly realize it had something to do with Granny. When I sat up and looked at her she had this sentimental smile on her face as she hands me the letter and says, “ this letter was left for you by mama,” I’ve just come from the lawyer’s office after receiving a call from him about there being more to her will and when I got there he handed me this letter.” “ He said she came in on a separate occasion with this letter and so it somehow got put in a separate file and he’s just so busy all the time he totally forgot about it until he went to finalize and close out all of her matters!” “He was very apologetic of course but he did remember how important it was to her that you get this letter!” “I’ll leave you to it sweetheart” then she left the room. I was trembling with anticipation as I opened this letter, “was this some kind of final goodbye from my precious granny” I thought! I began reading the letter and immediately my stomach started to turn because of the words, “ you know how important it is for you to attend college,” “ remember all our special talks and what I said about the kind of life having an education will mean for you, my precious girl.?” I suddenly felt like I was about to projectile vomit straight across the room but I held it down and kept reading. By the end of that letter all I had was butterflies in my stomach, jumping straight out of bed to almost hit the ceiling! I threw on clothes of mix match and shot through the house towards the garden. I ran right past my mother without even noticing her look of shock and dismay with a question mark floating above her head as she yelled “what in the world is this all about?” But I kept running, not even a bus could stop me! I would just run right through it as determined and motivated as I felt in that moment! My mother’s words faded during her final attempt to get some answers by yelling from our front porch, “ are you gonna tell me what is going on?” But it would have to wait, I had to get to that tree and nothing else mattered! As I make my way towards the garden I began thinking of my granny walking up the same hill with her and at the same time I am seeing her walking in my mind I began reciting her letter as well....

To my precious girl, you have brought so much joy into my life! I see you as the best of me! Of all the things I have done thus far, you are by far my best creation and surpass them all! You made each day count for me and now I want to make sure each of yours count. You know how important it is for you to attend college. Remember all of our special talks and what I said about the kind of life having an education will mean for you, my precious girl? Well I know that this is only possible with the right amount of money. Which is why I saved every penny that I’ve ever made from our pear preserves to pay for your college education and it should be more than enough to cover any kind of schooling you want to pursue. You will find that money buried underneath our pear tree in a lock box and the key is buried right there with it. Yes my darling, that is what I meant when I said I was fertilizing the pear tree on my evening walks to the garden. I guess you can say you were right, it was sort of a magic potion after all! God Bless you my precious darling girl and I will always be with you! I want you to live life to the fullest and follow your hearts dream! I’m not gone forever, just heading to a place where I can watch over you better and fertilize a tree so that one day when the time comes you can come and be as rich as me!

Love, Granny