Suzanne DeWitt Hall's Blog, page 11
January 25, 2017
November 25, 2016
In Search of Leadessia
A few months ago, we moved across country to be near our eldest daughter's family. This means that we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with them, initiating the grandkids in the tradition of potato peeling and fruit salad mixing. We feasted on Wednesday rather than Thursday to accommodate the schedule of our daughter's father.
We are renovating our new/old house, or at least making it livable, and so on Thanksgiving Day itself, Dolce worked on the tub while I cleaned kitchen cabinets. When I stopped to rinse a rag, I glanced out the window above the sink and watched a car pull up. This isn't particularly unusual; our home is next to a church, and the alley that leads to our driveway is adjacent to the church parking lot. People come and go all the time. The position of the car was a bit odd because it was so close to our house, but I didn't give it a lot of thought. I had things to do. The grandkids were coming later on, and I needed to get some work done before they arrived.
A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. I opened it to find a young woman standing on the steps. She said "Excuse me, but does Leadessia still live here?"
Her voice was hesitant, as if she already knew the answer.
I told her I was sorry, but that she no longer lived here. I told her the story we heard when we bought the house. We were told that the house had been the home of a woman for many years. We were told she had a husband, and he died. We were told she had another husband, and he also died. We were told that after that, she'd moved into a nursing home here in town.
That is all we knew.
The girl said "She was my grandmother." Her eyes filled with tears, and her speech was halting. "We never talked. She was my stepgrandmother, and the family was estranged. No one talks to that side, but I really loved her. I used to come here all the time when I was little. I thought I'd see if she was here. I had a project I wanted to do with her."
I told her how sorry I was, and that maybe she could find her at one of the nursing homes. I told her we have been marveling about the obvious love the family put into the house through the decades; installing Z-Brick on the walls, paneling over crumbling plaster, puzzling together pieces of trim to cover the top edges of the paneling.
The old place contains several lifetimes of family memories. Now we are hard at work creating our own.
Intending kindness, I asked if she'd like to come in to see what we've done with the house. She declined. Perhaps it was unfeeling to invite her. She came to be with her grandmother. Seeing the house so changed would have underscored what she has lost.
She left, still crying. My heart is still sad.
I hope she is in town for a few days, and can find her grandmother. I hope Leadessia is aware enough to experience the joy of such a visit. I hope for healing and restoration within her family.
The house belongs to Dolce and I now. We are undertaking our own projects, transforming it to fit our tastes and our needs. It is our turn to play with grandchildren on the scarred wooden floors, just as Leadessia did.
Like Leadessia, I am a stepgrandmother. Like that young woman, the children love me.
This Thanksgiving, I am potently aware of being part of history. We are but one page of a huge book of stories that move from generation to generation. I pray for Leadessia, for this young woman, and for our own grandchildren. May the pattern of disruption come to an end.
This week, if Dolce is willing, we will also go in search of Leadessia. And we will tell her this story.
November 15, 2016
Reminder to self: Rejoice.
A few years ago, our pastor asked Diane and I to offer a reflection during Stewardship Month about joy and rejoicing. This video is the result of that request.
It came up today in Diane's Facebook memories, and listening to it refreshed our spirits after this soul-sapping week.
I hope it might refresh yours as well.
August 4, 2016
Book Review: Housewitch
Here's another book review I had the honor to write for Merrimack Valley Magazine. This one was a fun read from the interesting mind of Katie Schickel. I'm reading her second novel, The Mermaid's Secret now, and planning to review it for the Huffinton Post.
If you like to wonder about the things of the world that we can't see with our eyes alone, you'll love her work.
July 22, 2016
Book Review: A Measure of Happiness
I'm way behind in uploading Merrimack Valley Magazine articles, but several author friends have done me BIG favors this week, and the very least I can do to say thank you is post my reviews of their books here.
This is the first of two.
Thanks Lorrie Thomson; not only for your generosity in helping move my debut novel forward, but also for writing books so worth reading.
June 8, 2016
Not starting over completely, but a lot of work lies ahead...
Today I read my middle grade "reluctant reader" to the grandkids. The reading pointed out a variety of flaws.
Sigh...
It was a worthwhile activity, but also a discouraging one. Whoever thinks writing for kids is easy is just plain WRONG.
May 31, 2016
Moving Out, Moving On: Recalling The Bittersweet History Of A Beloved Home
Bucket list item achieved! In early May, this piece appeared on the wonderful and inspiring Cognoscenti website. Here's how it opens. Click on the link at the end to continue reading.
A few months ago I cut back the rose bush we planted two years ago. It was bleak midwinter and the spiky branches were dark brown and menacing, twisting high against the porch uprights where I’d wired them in place, hoping to create an arbor of red once summer comes. But prospective buyers wouldn’t understand the potential beauty of the prickly beast reaching toward the front door, and we won’t be here to see summer. We are moving from New England to Missouri, where our four grandchildren live. Life can be hard and grandmothers can help, so we are...
You can read the rest of the article by clicking here...
April 22, 2016
March 11, 2016
Why I Finally Know What Truck Day Is (from the Huffington Post)
When my wife Diane turned 50 in 2012, we celebrated by going to a baseball park. In the eyes of the world it would have been a historic game. The park was Fenway. The teams were the Red Sox and the Yankees. The game would have been their first match in Fenway’s 100th year.
I’ve never been a sports fan, so normally this wouldn’t mean much to me. But there I was, living in Massachusetts where the Sox logo shows up on everything from license plates to ice cream boxes. A place where the Sox are not a team so much as they are a...
Excerpted from the Huffington Post. Click here to read more.
March 7, 2016
Modern Day Pharisees Make Jesus an Idol (from the Huffington Post)
My last HuffPost piece, Refrocked and Ready: Franklyn Schaefer, LGBTQ Faith Hero, provoked debate on a Facebook Christian Blogger group, which isn’t much of a surprise. A goodly number of Christians refuse to include the handful of scriptures which mention same sex behaviors in the huge batch of Bible verses they discard when making decisions about their own affairs. Some of the debaters were respectful, others disparaging and nasty, proclaiming that my marriage is an abomination, that my soul has been twisted by Satan, and that I use Christ as a puppet.
I love a good debate, particularly on issues related to theology and sexuality. It’s been a passion for some years. But people rarely want to...
Excerpted from the Huffington Post. Click here to read more.
