I was the grandchild that did too much. I was the child that was naughty that it took a very strong woman to help raise me. I was what they deem “ungovernable”. She would sit on the veranda, dressed to the nines telling childhood stories of the “Mavis that would never listen”. These stories were ludicrous, if not for the fondness with which she would tell them. Ranging from the times I would refuse to wear the same pair of shoes in one go, as I could not comprehend how one wears the same shoe on both feet. This was a fight every morning before taking me to day care, because a strong-will is what I inherited from her, and so she would find herself arguing with a four year old about wearing the same pair of shoes on both feet. The cries would be smoothed by the promise I can wear two different pairs of socks, if I wear one pair of shoes. As though that is not enough, I too wanted a lunch box for the road to school and another one at school, because she loved me, she would adhere. There we would go on our merry way, after mornings spent negotiating with my dear grandmother.
The story she most likes to tell is, when I was 9, a child in grade 3 with eyes wide enough to take the world in and knowledge fit for a child years beyond my age, I told her NO. No, I will not wash the dishes she insisted I learn to wash for months. This particular afternoon, she said to me that if by four that afternoon I had not washed those dishes, I was going to see her. This in a black household meant I was to see her wrath. Resilient in my disobedience I decided against all odds that I was going to see her come four o’ clock. So, I did. The clock hit four and here comes my heart, with an iron spatula in hand and decides to smack my hands with a fury my spoilt-self had never encountered from her. After I got a hand beating, I decide, that’s okay, I guess I too need to show my fury. I decide I will go report her to the police officers just up the street. Lo and behold, I would come back an hour later with the police in tow without knowledge that this would get my grandmother locked up, because I decided to get mighty creative about just how this beating occurred. Luckily, these police officers had wisdom enough to be able to tell when a 9 year old with an incredible imagination could coax adults into believing her story of abuse. My grandmother did not end up going to jail that night, but the whole family did go hear about troublesome Mavis who really ought to get a real beating, because spanking is for playing.
The stories go one end, and I have many such with my Heart. We were inseparable and when we were together it was like seeing two teenage girls, giggling about one or the other crush. She was my Bonnie, and I was her Clyde. She was my Beyonce, and I here Jay Z. She was the silver lining in my eyes, she was my motivation, she was my grandmother.
On September the 12th, a day that started like no other, the world took my heart from me. The world took a part of me that was deeply engraved into me, a part of me that always felt like home, a part of me that promised it would never leave me. Only, it did not come in the form of heart break, it came in the form of loss. My grandmother descended upon the heavens to meet her creator. She left me, with a mirage of bitter sweet feelings, filled with a want to hold on and let bitterness become my new found reality or let hope become my new found solitude. Knowing, that I, one day will meet her again, in a place she will from yesterday call home. A place I too will one day call home.
There was always too much to say, too little time.
She was my fairy God mother,
Who would wave her magic wand and my troubles would seem futile
A simple call would be received with eagerness
Ready to soothe away any troubles
Ready to receive me with open arms
I always thought the day would never come
When death and sorrow would be my reality
That I could not pick up a phone and call at any time
That endless hours of laughter with you my Heart, would seize
You were my hope in a world that seemed helpless
You were my light in a world that seemed dark
Though I hurt, though I mourn
Your memory will last forever
Of this I will make sure,
Of this I promise
Because you gave me your Heart
You gave me your Heart to take care of
You made sure that I never felt alone,
Not for a second
Not for a day
A gift I will forever treasure,
Because you made sure you gave me the greatest gift
You gave me love,
And love abundantly I will give to the world,
You will live forever,
Through my hands
Through the love I will give
Because you taught me love,
And love lasts forever
It echoes through generations,
Your love will echo through generations.
Go well my heart,
Go well the love of my life,
Go well Lovis Aron.
My grandmother, go well.
With my Heart
Mavis
