Date: Sun, 5 Jan 1997 11:37:45 -0800 Subject: SUB:Valentine'd Contest:Tribute:Short Story There's still time to send your entry! Check out http://web.mit.edu/mbarker/www/val97/val.html for details. Please reserve all critiques on contest entries until after Valentine's Day! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- A Tribute They were inseparable, my grandparents. One depended on the other just as one leg depends on another to run. One could never imagine them apart. After 62 years of marriage, they had seen their share of heartache. My grandfather had many strokes which led to paralysis of half his body. His posture was slowly taking the toll and would become dependent on a walking stick to get him around. To look in your eyes he would have to peer up from his hunched over position. My grandmother was slowly losing her sight. She had not driven in years due to her eyesight but she always had my grandfather to carry her to the store on her weekly visit to town. He was a retired insurance salesman and she a homemaker. They farmed for many years and stopped only when health wouldnt let them farm any longer. I remember the horse they had for many years, Lady, and also remember following after my grandfather when he would make the daily trip to the barn to collect the eggs. When returning with our loot, we would find breakfast waiting on the table and my grandmother waiting with a smile. The woodbox sat beside the front door and many of relatives sat on that box next to the woodburning stove. One would never imagine them being apart from each other for each depended on the other. He never missed a Sunday service and could be heard throughout the building as he said Amen when his heart would fill with joy. She never missed a hair appointment at the local beauty shop. He never missed a high school football or basketball game, with the exception of his stay in the hospital due to the strokes. The players and cheerleaders would come by, shake his hand, kiss his cheek or just say "Hi Mr. Perkins". (He was just PawPaw to me) She would have the lights on when he would return from town, for each depended on the other. She gave us her best spoons to carry with us when we played in the dirt outside. The best mud pies in town! He showed us how to climb in the barn and jump into the straw. We would climb into the white Galaxy with him and make the short drive to the small grocery store a little more the one mile from their home for icecream. She would cover the table with all kinds of food and desserts at Thanksgiving and Christmas and he would fall asleep in the recliner as all of the children would run through the house as most kids do. The desk chair that seemed to never stop as you leaned back and the wood stove in the living room....all warm memories of this writers heart. He walked behind her as she was escorted down the church aisle at my wedding. She greeting everyone as she passed and him smiling a hello also. A picture left behind of two people with ageless smiles and endless love. My daughter and son never met this wonderful pair. One cold Saturday morning, God chose to take them home. The local high school football and basketball players carried the double caskets to the grave sights. They went together for one could not do without the other. Two angels with perfect eyesight and perfect posture look down on my children and embrace them when the fall. They are inseparable, my grandparents, just as we knew they would be. ------------------------------------------- They say it takes money to make money. They're right. You even need a coin to scratch off a lottery ticket. Michelle winebird@inreach.com