She is not going to like this.
My grandma has always been the type to work quietly in the background, never wanting a show, never wanting to be in the spotlight. Well, she is in the spotlight now. When I was attending Jane Addams Middle School, my cousin and I went to Grandma and Grandpa Grier’s house almost every day after school. We would lay on the living room floor and do our homework (or pretend to do our homework while actually playing M.A.S.H.). When homework was done, we would watch TV or play the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone computer game until our parents came and picked us up.
Looking back, my favorite days were when we helped her make sandwiches. We would stand at the kitchen counter (up to my chest at the time, because I have always been short) and make 30 sandwiches in an assembly line. One person added the meat, one added the cheese, one put the sandwich in the bag. It probably took longer for all three of us to make 30 sandwiches than it would have taken for her to do it on her own, but she wanted us to help. She taught us how to get the work done, even when we were tired, even when we were about to battle Voldemort, even when we had just made sandwiches yesterday.
For over 20 years, Delores Grier ran our lunch program. It started small—just a few bagged lunches a day. Over the years, it has grown to include 35 bagged lunches and hot meals every day, a monthly clothing closet, and monthly haircuts. She did all this in the background, never asking for praise or recognition. She did it to help people. She did it because it was work that needed to be done.
She is not going to like it, but she deserves to be recognized for the work she has done. Thank you, Grandma, for teaching us all how to do the work with grace, faith, and an open heart.
~Sam Garrett