GRAMMY

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She still feels like my mother in law.. But these days she feels more like a friend.

Grammy as the grand kids call her...with Paw Paw right by her side-cooks up one delicious pot of red beans and rice...the traditional Monday night staple in homes...all across New Orleans-and throughout Louisiana.

We gathered at her house for dinner in honor of Mackie who turned 20 when Grammy was out of town...for grandparents day in Memphis Tennessee. When you have given birth to seven kids...you're almost assured of a posse of third generation energizer bunnies.

As I watched my five sons inhaling their food, exhaling their comments...interacting with their dad and thoroughly enjoying this rare blessing...I thought- how blessed I am to have been given this gift of life...my own...my children...their father, his mother and her beloved husband...All on loan to make this world a brighter, bolder and unquestionably-noisier place.

I can assure you there is never a dull moment, or a quiet one...or an awkward, embarrassing, unspoken melody...Believe me this family has seen it all...and a lot of it-we've experienced firsthand-front and center, fast and furious.

There was a time when this dinner scene, would be but a faraway dream in the mind's eye...a wish upon a shining star...a miracle waiting to happen. But sometimes dreams really do come true...stars shine a heavenly glow upon us- and miracles transform the way we view ourselves, others and the world around us.

Sometimes all it takes is the Loving embrace of a mother-a grandmother and a mother in law...to make all the difference in the world...to those who are praying for those rare miracle moments that transform our lives and illuminate the gifts from God who is nodding a sigh of relief that we are finally-getting it right!

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