My Edinburgh Grandmother

Someone who knows someone, who knows someone, who knows my mother put a little granny (wifey in Scots English) in touch with me. This lady is in her 80ties and has lived in Edinburgh most of her life. She tried to get hold of me for a couple of weeks then when she finally did she invited me over for a cuppa.

So knowing that she has a brother living in my home-town, Bulawayo, I went to visit her today. She's nearly half my height but she greeted me a massive smile! She then treated me to a feast of cakes and tarts, whilst telling me her life story. Her brother Angus and his friend had hitch-hiked (yeah, thumb out style) from Edinburgh to Zimbabwe fifty years ago!!! She was an artist, she showed me a few of her paintings and let me play around on her piano. She recently had a stroke and lost her speech for about 9 months but she showed me her art works from that time and they fall into the 'tranquility' genre. Her health isn't great and she regularly took 'breathers' whilst sharing stories about living in the war, loosing family members, getting through it, the Queen ofcourse, grandchildren and her personal faith. When it was time to leave she handed me a bag of home-grown apples and some biscuits, gave me a big hug and said I must come by again soon.

This little lady told me that when it comes to your health there are only 4 important bones worth worrying about - a wish bone, your jaw bone so that you can ask, your backbone enabling you to act and, very importantly, your funny bone!