10: One Another

One thing that helps you through a journey like this, whether it is working through sugar control concerns or Afib, is sharing that experience with others. As you do that, you build a relationship and trust with one another. What you hope for, at least for me, is that the message being delivered in posts such as these begins to resonate with others. In some way, maybe the messages help someone in need.

Growing up, I had the best example of this from one individual who epitomized Godly care for one another--my grandmother, Joanne Thrift, whom I called Maw Maw.

Maw Maw was and continues to be one of the best people I have ever known. Her passion was always for others. Whether through the stories she wrote or the interactions she had with them in person, she lived a blessed life of loving those around her and treating others the way she would want to be treated as well.

Maw Maw was a journalist for her career, most recently for the Anderson Independent Mail. What I remember about her time writing for the newspaper was her articles that appeared in the Home Towner. She would write stories about people from our hometown of Anderson, SC, and the surrounding local areas every week. Her stories always showed one thing, inspiration. The reason being, that's what Maw Maw did for all of us, inspire.

One way she inspired was through her humility. Maw Maw never boasted about anything she accomplished. I never knew that Maw Maw once helped Ronald Reagan celebrate his birthday while he was campaigning in the area until she retired from the newspaper and it was brought up in articles and on a television snippet with WYFF about her career. I never knew all of the awards Maw Maw received for her writing until she passed away in 2012. In fact, I hardly ever remember her boasting about anything she ever did. I heard her boasting about the things she loved, which were typically things about her family, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers on the street.

She held to God's word to love one another. That was never more clear than the way she loved her family. Maw Maw worked diligently as I was growing up to always bring her family back together on a regular basis. Whether it was Sunday lunches, family reunions, birthday parties, or sometimes all of the above at the same time, she enjoyed doing all she could for her family.

I loved going to Maw Maw and Paw Paw's house on Sundays to have Sunday Lunch. There was nothing better than eating some of Maw Maw's mac and cheese! I still make it to this day because she left me the recipe. I honestly don't believe I could live without it. It's the best in the world. But all her food was great because she did it for us so much. So many Sundays we spent gathered together, watching movies and sports. We would laugh, play, and enjoy the happiness she brought to us all.

As a child, I spent the night at Maw Maw and Paw Paw's house almost every Friday. We would stay up late watching television, everything from Star Trek to Tales from the Darkside (the 1960s versions shown on Nick at Night). Then on Saturday morning, I would get up and eat breakfast while watching Saturday Morning Cartoons (everything from Looney Tunes to The Real Ghostbusters, Transformers, Muppet Babies, Pee Wee's Playhouse, and Garfield and Friends). But what I really loved doing was when Maw Maw would play stuff with me on the Bridge of the Starship Enterprise.

She let me turn one unoccupied room in her house into a playroom for me and my cousins. At the time, Star Trek was something I absolutely loved, everything about space even. She did all she could to encourage that creativity in me, as she was quite creative. So, I took toys, posters, and everything I could to build my version of the Enterprise. We had a ball in there battling Klingons, Romulans, and sometimes even family members and friends. It was all in good fun, of course, and Maw Maw would laugh and laugh as we played.

When she wrote stories that I remembered, they usually corresponded to our family. Many a birthday and Christmas, we were entertained by Maw Maw's tales of trying to rhyme our names with something in the story she created. Sometimes, she would take movie quotes to see if we knew the film that corresponded to it. Sometimes, we would have to guess whose birthday she was talking about during the tale. Other times, she would tell us what our names meant, like mine meaning "One who heals" or Dustin's name meaning "Brown Stone." Those stories did so much to make us smile, laugh, and fill us with joy so much. It's hard to remember every story and how it went because she did so many, at least 30 years worth, just from the time that I recall. But she didn't just do this for us. She did this for everyone, too. She epitomized agape love, living her life loving others and caring about them.

That was her passion, telling stories about others. Once, I managed the social media pages for the Clemson University School of Nursing, and during those 4 and 1/2 years of doing so, I tried to do things I recalled Maw Maw doing--keeping it on the sunny side. As a colleague once said to all the faculty about my posting, they were celebratory, as I routinely highlighted the accomplishments of others across the platforms. For that short period, it made me feel like I had a small taste of what Maw Maw did so well as a person and professional. But what I did on social media didn't come close to the level she was capable of in her musings. She was one of a kind, and I could only ever hope to be as good of a writer as she was in her lifetime.

She inspired me in every way, and I was blessed to have someone like her in my life to shine a light on what it truly means to be alive. Loving others, caring more, being humble, serving, and holding God above all things. That's the story of Maw Maw. She let me and my whole family know why it is important to love one another. Thank you, Jesus, for allowing me to have someone like her in my life. 

But that's just one of the many people in my life that has helped me grow into the person I am today. I've written things previously about my parents and in-laws, but I want to touch on others who have inspired me to show love to others the way they did.

Tune in next time for 10: One Another, Part 2.