The End of my Rainbow.

My grandmother died in 1996. The mother of the man who is my biological father.

My Grandmother was like Auntie Em. Remember the line, "For twenty-three years I've been dying to tell you what I thought of you! And now, well, being a Christian woman, I can't say it!" She lived the golden rule.

Her favorite Hymn was How Great thou Art. It took me years after she died to be able to hear it and not cry.



I am a pack rat. Worse than that, I am a sentimental pack rat. Put any little dohickey in my hands, and I can tell you who gave it to me, why I got it, where I got it...and unfortunately, the kids follow in my footsteps.



One of the local churches got a tractor trailer this week, and the goal was to fill it with goods to send to LA and Mississippi for Hurricane Katrina relief. One of the things being collected was bed linens. They were to be used in shelters, and to donate to people who could eventually return home.

I went through my linen closet, and pulled out over 15 sets of sheets that we could manage to give away. One of these sets was my Wamsutta Rainbow sheets.

These sheets were special. These were the first set of sheets I bought when we got married. I have to tell you, after 22 years...they still looked good......

We haven't used them in about 7 years, since we got the 16" deep matress. They just didn't fit. I saved them to use on the queen sleeper we used to have, but that was gone too. There really was no reason to keep this particular set anymore. None at all. No reason, except that I couldn't bear to part with them.

As I packed the bags to take to the church, I'd put the rainbows in, and take the rainbows out. All day. At 7PM, I kicked myself senseless, and put the sheets in the bag. Here I was waxing sentimental over a stupid set of sheets, and there are a million people who have lost everything. I headed for the church with the satisfaction that someone in a shelter would hopefully sleep in their high thread count luxury, and maybe sleep more restfully than they have for weeks.


Bear with me, this will all make sense in a minute!

As I walked up to the church, there was an evening service going on. Music filled the parking lot.

I've never heard How Great Thou Art sung with so much joy.

I love you too Gram!