Grandma's Divine Healing Appointment...

I still remember...

angry . red . ants...

sweltering . humid . southern . heat...

the . best . homemade. popsicles . on . planet . earth...

summer . fun...

and . barefoot . bliss...

I also remember...

The . nail...

searing . pain...

immediate . shock...

a . river . of . tears...

& me immediately doing a one-legged flamingo-esque, limping run back toward my grandfather's pale brick house in a panic...

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which eventually led to...

Grandma's divinely-appointed, withered, sepia-brown hands working their magic on my wound...

Then me... suddenly feeling...

calmed...

comforted...

& fit to face another day of play...

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Author's Note: The year that I turned six, I was walking barefoot when I stepped on a nail while vacationing in Texas, but this was no ordinary nail; it was the rusty-dusty kind, the kind that eventually caused me to have an unwanted duel with a tetanus shot.

There I was, happily running along the carpet of red dirt that lined the sidewalk in front of my grandfather's house when I suddenly felt something impale the bottom, mid-section of my right foot. As soon as the pain hit, I booked it to my grandfather's house, like a cheetah in a track meet, so that I could tell my grandmother what had happened.

I couldn't believe how bad the wound was; it looked as though the sole of my foot had been filleted with a paring knife like an unsuspecting piece of catfish that was ready to take a warm dip in the deep fryer. Truth be told, my foot also felt like it had a bad case of strep throat since it was intensely sore and tender to the touch.

Once my grandmother (affectionately called Big Momma by us youngins) learned what had happened, she hurried into the kitchen. I naturally wondered what my sagacious grandmother was up to.

I soon found out when she returned to the living room with a large piece of raw steak. To my utter surprise, she placed the raw steak directly on top of my wound to draw all of the soreness out. 

I was initially unsure that her 'steak' remedy would work, but when Big Momma finished tending to my foot for a period, the pain began to vanish, and the cut began to heal.

My Big Momma had a gift for healing. In fact, I've been told that I had a bad cold when I was six months old and that my grandma cured it by collecting a special species of bugs from outside and placing several of them into a small satchel; then she tied the satchel around my neck. I later learned that Big Momma's special 'bug' remedy had chased my cold away completely.

It's been 33 years since she graduated from Earth, but my grandmother & her magical remedies still live in my heart to this day.

Thank you so much for stopping by and for sharing in this special memory with me.

Much Love,

Tiffa Go 🌸