My Grandma

Family.
I've got a great one. Our trip to Pennsylvania this weekend for the yearly Denlinger gathering struck a chord deep within me. How good it is to be with people who have known you and loved you all your life. They've watched you grow through all the different phases of your life and they're still there. Watching, cheering, loving.

I have always appreciated this time to gather with my aunts and uncles and cousins and get caught up on their lives and see how much their kids have grown and changed, especially since many years I was half a world away in Egypt and was unable to attend this gathering. What a wonderful thing to take a mere 2 hour car ride and be able to hang out with some of the most wonderful people I know. We get together far less now than we did when I was growing up, but the history that we have together is something to be treasured and cherished.

My grandma, Ruth Hershey Denlinger, the matriarch of the family, was an amazing woman who tied us together in the first place. She loved having her family around her, and I remember many joyful holiday meals at her house. She was an amazing cook--I used to really believe she had some kind of grandma magic in her hands and as she cooked, whatever she touched turned delicious. Even toast bread.

She was a hard-working farmer's wife who in her late eighties was still out shoveling silage and helping out on the farm. She would let us kids climb into the silage cart and roll us along the corridor as she shoveled silage into the trough for the cows. I would stand beside her, entranced by the magic of watching her call the cows in from the field with a warbling, "Sooookeeyyyy, soooookeeeyyyyyy, sookey, sookey, sookey!" I loved staying overnight at her house. She would let me sleep in her bed with her and would tell me stories until I'd fall asleep. I still remember some of those stories.

Living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in the heart of Amish country, she served as a taxi-service for Amish in her later years of life and would take them places that were too far for their buggies to go. Amish will ride in cars, but do not drive or own cars. So they'd call up my grandma and ask her if she would take them to the doctor, or the grocery store, or wherever they needed to go. She had great relationships with many Amish families in the area. She kept a little notebook in her purse and would often page through to remind herself of the trips she needed to take. I would often ride along with her as she went on her "runs". That was a fascinating cultural experience for me.

My grandma lived a selfless life of service and loved extravagantly. Her faith was profound in its simplicity. She was a Mennonite, and wore a head covering, but never made a big deal about these external symbols of faith. Rather, she constantly modeled love and acceptance. In highschool we were given an assignment to write about a hero in our lives and then give the person the gift of what we wrote. My hero was my grandma.

She lived to be 92 years old. I was in Egypt when she died and was unable to come home for her memorial service. She had actually been slipping away from us for the last few years of her life, so the goodbye was mercifully gradual.

My grandma wrote this letter to her children and grandchildren, in her familiar scrawling handwriting, to be read along with her last will and testament. I will read it to my children and grandchildren and can only hope that I will grow in the wisdom, grace, beauty and simplicity she modeled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To my children and grandchildren

I hope you will always be friends and visit one another even when you are older and live miles apart.

I pray that you will never let material things separate you. You each were born to us, and it would be such a marvelous gift if you could always treat one another with affection.

As you already know, not everyone is able to leave their children a big estate made up of lands and mortgages and bonds, but as your loving mother, I bequeath to you, my children, an estate worth infinitely more—one for which you will rise up and call me blessed.

I leave to you an honorable name and a good reputation. I have tried to leave the memory of a Godly life and a record of fair dealing. I have endeavored to teach you to have a profound respect for fact, a deep reverence for character, a thirst for knowledge and a willingness to work. If you have all this you will not need any money that may be willed to you. If you do not have this, no money left to you will do you much good.

I also hereby bequeath to you, my children, an appreciation for all the beautiful everyday things around you. The beauties of nature, the wonders of the stars and the gorgeous sunsets. Walk in the woods and see the beautiful wild flowers and birds. God has given us these things to enjoy, so take time to watch the sunsets and see the stars. Instead of worldly goods and valuable antiques, I leave to you a whole wide world of wonder. Learn to live in the present moment.

Read God’s word and pray. Live for Jesus every day. I thank God of every remembrance of you, your love and understanding. May the peace of God rule in your hearts. See you soon in heaven where we’ll never say goodbye.

Love,
Mother