My Southern Heart

From the heart of a Southern girl living in the Midwest

Archives for January 2012

Happy birthday, my sweet boy…

Family, Reflections

I was there when you arrived HOME from Ethiopia after a long two day journey with your Mom and Dad.  You must have been tired, but you didn’t cry.  You carefully looked us all over – your  new family – from the safety of Mommy’s arms.  Those dark eyes danced and then you smiled, revealing dimples that stole my heart.  Two years later and I am indeed your Grandmommy!  Happy Birthday, my sweet boy!

For my grandson’s third birthday, I chose the Hallmark Curious George recordable book and the Curious George plush character that talks when you press the toe (loudly).  I also recorded the story in my voice.  My daughter says he plays the storybook all the time.  I watched on iPad FaceTime as he opened them and played the book.  For just a moment, there was a look of confusion as to how I could accomplish being in two places at once, but then he picked the book up and hugged it to his chest.   I will be there for a visit in a few short weeks and I can’t wait!

Fifty-five years and a lock of hair…

My Southern Heart, Reflections

A box came down from the attic today that I knew held some treasures.  There were letters from my older son and my daughter when they were away at college.  There were letters I had written to my parents after we moved to Kentucky.  There was a card to my older son at college written by my third grade son telling his older brother that he “didn’t like being an only child” and that he missed him.  The tears were falling, of course, as I continued to sort through these priceless treasures…

Then I spotted the envelope written in Mama’s hand.  On the front it read “Dianne McGregor.  Lock of hair from September 28, 1957”.  55 years?!  I took the envelope outside into the sunlight and carefully pulled out the lock of hair and the small 55 year old rubber band.   (For a moment, I felt just like Bruce Willis when he meets himself as a child in the Disney movie, “The Kid”.) 

I know now why my youngest has beautiful strawberry blonde hair  (besides the fact his two grandmothers did as well).  I held the proof in my hands.  My hair was clearly blonde.  Strawberry blonde.

A year or so ago, I tried having my hair a darker brown.  It didn’t feel right.  It didn’t feel like me.  Someone asked me, “what makes you think you’re a blonde?”  Besides my coloring and my memory?  I just knew.

So, today, I held the 55 year old lock of hair in my hands.  It is the exact same color hair as several of my granddaughters.  I was eleven years old on September 28th, 1957…the same age as one of my granddaughters.

I love the study of genetics.  The link from one generation to the next.  The circle of life…