"The Scrapbook Grandma Made For Me"

A-Poem-a-Day

Until Resurrection Day...

I picked my grandchildren up from Catholic school yesterday and was greeted by their smiling faces and ash smudges on their foreheads. It was Ash Wednesday. I was reminded of a conversation we had last year during Lent and the following poem that our conversation inspired...

My paternal grandmother, Anna Maude Walsh
(1881--1961)

THE SCRAPBOOK GRANDMA MADE FOR ME

I picked up my grandchildren

at Saint Mary’s elementary school

They tossed their heavy backpacks

into the back of the car

got in and fastened their seatbelts

They know the routine—

don’t need to be reminded anymore

As we drove off

I could hear them in the back seat

talking about Lent and fasting

Dean and Alana gave up electronics

Their big brother Logan

now in high school

gave up chocolate

Dean asked, “Grandma

what did you give up?”

I told Dean I didn’t give up

anything this Lent, instead

I give Jesus a gift of new poems—

Some days I spend quiet time

writing poems that give glory to Him

and every day I post

a Lenten poem on my blog

Dean said, “Wow! That’s a lot

of poems, Grandma!”

I explained that it’s perfectly fine

to give up things for 40 days, but

sometimes people do other things

like donating to a charity

or visiting the sick

or baking cookies for an elderly neighbor

anything that draws them closer to God

Then I thought about my own grandmother—

She lived next door

when I was growing up

Grandma loved the Lord

and often talked to me about Him

She even made me a special scrapbook

with a cardboard cover

that she decorated with flowers

she carefully cut

from a Burpee seed catalog

The scrapbook contained pictures of children

kittens and puppies, and Howdy Doody

but more importantly, it contained

the 11 chapter story by Charles Dickens

that he wrote for his children in the 1840s

called, The Life of Our Lord

The story was published as a serial

in the Paterson Morning Call, in the 1950s

I still have that scrapbook

still appreciate that Grandma took the time

to make it just for me

It’s the kind of thing grandmas do—

Important things like that

Maude Carolan Pych

The above poem is published in my new book, "Behold the Lamb...poetically!" Elm Hill Press. For more information go to maudecarolanpych.com