Today is Friday, June 11th, 2004; Karen's Korner #310
This Karen's Korner is about "grandmothers". As most of you know, I am a new grandma....beginning in February when Luke was born.
But these new grandmas are coming fast and furious. Since the first part of May, I have gotten messages from people about new births at the rate of two or three a week. Some are grandmas (moms) for the first time; others are grandmas again!
The messages are coming faster than I can keep all of the facts straight. How big are they? What are the new names? Any special birth facts? Sometimes I can even remember whether it is a new boy or a girl.........but all of them are good news!
I want to share two email grandma stories.........just for fun!
The first one was a short Chicken Soup for the Soul from several days ago. I thought it was so good that I saved it. Some way it must have gotten deleted. So I will attempt to retell the story:
A widowed grandmother was pleased to announce to her family her intentions to be remarried in a few months. She told her seven-year-old twin grandsons the news.
"Does this mean you are going to have more children?" one twin asked.
Before grandma could reply, the second grandson chided his brother by saying, "Don't be silly. Having children is sort of like having chicken pox. Once you've had them you can't get them again."
~~~
The second one is a pass-along email, which I received recently. I can't recall who mailed it to me:
Grandmothers observation.
A grandmother's observation: I just spent several
hours observing teenagers who were hanging out at
our local mall.
I came to the conclusion that many teenagers in
America are living in poverty. Most of the young men
I observed didn't even own a belt; there was not
one among the whole group. But that wasn't the sad
part . . .
many of them were wearing their daddy's jeans.
Some of these jeans were so big and baggy that they
hung low on their hips, exposing their underwear.
I know some of them must have been ashamed
their daddy was short, because his jeans hardly
went below their knees. They weren't even their
daddies' good jeans, for most of them had holes ripped in
the knees and had a dirty look to them. It grieved me
that in a modern, affluent society like America,
there are people who can't afford a decent pair of jeans.
I have been thinking about asking my church to
start a jeans drive for the "poor kids at the mall."
Then on Christmas Eve, I could go Christmas
caroling and distribute jeans to these poor teenagers.
I don't think this group of guys had even had much
to eat, because as they were walking, their heads
leaned to one side as if they didn't have enough
strength to keep them up. Oh, they tried. With each step,
they tried to lift them up, but to no avail; they
always dropped back to the side. This group of guys
must be from the same family, because they all
walked with their heads bobbing together in the same
manner.
But that wasn't the saddest part. It was the girls
they were hanging out with that disturbed me the most.
I have never in all of my life seen such "poor"
girls. These girls had the opposite problem of the
guys . .
they all had to wear their little sisters'
clothes. Their jeans were about five sizes too small. I don't know
how they could even put them on, let alone button
them up. Their jeans barely went over their hipbones.
Most of them also had on their little sister's
top; it hardly covered their midsection. Oh, they were trying
to hold their heads up with pride, but it was a
sad sight to see these almost grown women wearing
children's clothes. However, it was their
underwear that bothered me the most. They, like the
boys, because of the improper fitting of their clothes,
also had their underwear exposed. I have never seen
anything like it. It looked like their underwear
was only held together by a single piece of . . string.
I know it also saddens your heart to receive this
report on the condition of our American teenagers.
While I go to bed every night with a closet full
of clothes nearby, there are millions of "mall
girls" who barely have enough material to keep it
together. I think their "poorness" is why these two groups
gather at the mall, the boys with their short
daddies' ripped jeans, and the girls wearing their
younger sisters' clothes. The mall is one place where they
can find acceptance. So, the next time you are
at the mall doing your shopping and you pass by
some of these poor teenagers, would you say a prayer for them?
And one more thing . . . Will you pray that the
guys' pants won't fall down, and the girls' strings won't break?!
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