Meeting Bom-Bom

Back in January, Amelia met her great-grandmother Bom-Bom for the very first time. Bom-Bom is one of my very favorite people on Earth. She is 99 years old. When I was a kid, we'd stay with her after school sometimes. I have so many wonderful memories of Bom-Bom, it would be a very long post to share them. But here are a few:

Her car was an olive green Chevy (??) with shiny vinyl seats. These seats were so hot in the Memphis summers, you could literally burn your legs on them. She'd always give us a towel to put on the seats--you know, to avoid the smell of scorching flesh! My cousin Clint and I used to make magic shows for Bom-Bom. She was such a good sport, as I'm sure our sleight-of-hand wasn't so sleight. She would lay in front of the TV with us, usually watching Wheel of Fortune, and we would pretend to ride bikes in the air, her form of exercise (which must have worked cause she's still hangin' out at age 99!). I loved to help gather walnuts from her backyard and help pick carrots and beans and okra from her garden. Bom-Bom loves Scrabble--and she can put down some high-scorin' words faster than a Nascar racer. It was both fun and frustrating to play with her--while we'd study the board and our letters trying to play the best word, she'd just plop one down when her turn came, picking up 50 points and using 6 of her 7 tiles, wondering out loud "what's takin' y'all so long!?"

Bom-Bom is--and long has been--a real blessing for our family. She's probably the most truly kind and honest woman I've ever met, full of faith and Christian values that she applies to her every-day life, "a red-letter Christian" (as Tony Campolo would call her). We could all learn a thing or two from her about how to live life to the fullest, without regret, without judging others and with a kind word at every turn. The day Amelia met her, she was bright and alert, cooing over Amelia and holding her gently. Some days are not that great for Bom-Bom anymore, but how fortunate for us, that this day was a beautiful one--so that one young beauty could look into the eyes of an older and wiser beauty for the very first time!