A Blessing

As is often the case, crisis situations bring along with them blessings.  The crisis involved this week was not of my own.  Not my blood.  Not my niece.  Not really my family.  The crisis is in a family of my family. 

A little girl, fighting for her life in CICU at UAB Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.  Who happens to be my niece's-husband's-brother's-daughter.  Clear as mud, right? If you are not already praying for Greer Underwood, please do so.  She is very ill.

The blessing to us was time.  Time spent with our great-niece, Casiday.  Greer is her cousin and Casiday came with her mother (Teri Lynne) and daddy (Scott) to Birmingham from Georgia to be with Greer and her family. 

But a hospital waiting room isn't really a fun place to be, and I asked Teri Lynne if we could come and get Casiday and bring her home with us for a few days.  Huntsville is just 90 minutes from Birmingham and we thought she might enjoy being with us rather than just hanging out in the hospital.

I will say that I think she enjoys herself wherever she is.  What a delightful young lady!  Vibrant and full of life.  Just a little bit sassy, friendly and a joy to have in our home.  She has a dear heart and a  pleasing personality, is creative and very funny.

I looked at her and saw pieces of people I love.  She is in many ways her Mother's child.  And I have loved Teri Lynne since the moment I knew of her existence.  Before she was born, before we knew she was a girl...I loved the baby for whom I was going to be 'Aunt Mollianne' for the very first time.  A role I cherish and share with 12 nieces and nephews, ranging from age 5 to well...however old Teri Lynne is!  Not to mention the plethora of great-nieces and nephews.

She has a sweet tooth that has come down through our family from Neenie to Bigmama to Mollianne to Teri Lynne (the line gets crooked here) to Casiday.  I learned to love a Sugar Sandwich-white bread, spread with butter and sprinked (or dumped) with white sugar and eaten quickly in hopes of making another-as a small child when Mother would make them for me.  Teri Lynne says she learned to love the same treat made by the same hands. 

She has hazel eyes.  Not as dark as mine, but hazel nonetheless.  We looked at each other and talked about our eyes.  Many in our family...most, probably, have blue eyes.  I always thought my eyes made me different and I wished for blue eyes. As an adult, I have come to love my eyes, because they are very like my Mother's in color and size.  Looking at hers and knowing that those eyes go on to another generation was a wonderful feeling. 

She has a tender heart.  She loves the outside and the world God made.  She adores dogs and cats and even likes lizards.  She giggles.  She teases.  She has her Uncle Ed's number and plays him like a violin on occasion.

She said thank you for each meal, each treat and for the time she spent with us.  We have grown up daughters, so having an eleven year old girl was not out of our experience.  It has been awhile, however, since we listened to that sort of silliness and wisdom wrapped up in one. We are used to boys of the same age, and they are different creatures.  Very different.

One night, as we had a lively discussion about teeth brushing, her Uncle Ed looked at me and said, "This is a different sort of stimulation than I'm used to."  Absolutely, Uncle Ed.  Absolutely!

That night, as she laid snuggled up next to me watching a movie, I felt a wonderful sense of time and space.  I was holding my brother's grandchild close.  My beloved niece's daughter.  My great-niece.  Part of the next generation of my family.  And I prayed that she will have good memories of her time with us.  And carry a small part of us in her heart through the years. 

Thank you, Scott and Teri Lynne, for trusting us with your girl in your time of crisis.  What a blessing she was to us. Her laughter still rings in my ears.  Her art-work signs (my favorite being the one that says, 'Edmund likes Pink') are where she left them for us.  We have laughed over Casiday-isms all week long and hope that our next visit will be soon.

~Mollianne