PatchWork by Joyce Whitis

Last Updated 09/06/05

Email: joy@our-town.com

        Tonia Leigh Whitis McClellan was born on the fourth of July 1976 and she has been creating fireworks ever since.  My oldest granddaughter also taught me how to be a grandmother because she was my shadow during her first years.  At the time she was born, her parents lived just up the hill from us.  They owned and operated one of the largest dairies in Erath County at the time, milking upwards of 300 registered Holsteins.  Stephen and Quentin were the two older brothers and they soon had small chores around the dairy but baby girl, Tonia was free to put on her hat and ride her tricycle down the hill to grandmother’s house. What a thrill that was to hear a small voice outside my back door speaking in a positive voice, “Ma!  I here!” And here she was and here she would stay until someone uncurled her fingers from the door facing and carted her off across the pregnant cows’ lot.  Often her unscheduled appearances were a serious threat to something I had previously planned but once I heard that little voice, “Ma, I here!”  I was completely helpless and unorganized. Because of these frequent visits, our little granddaughter became a part of our day’s activities.  For that reason she stood in the seat between us as we carried a pickup load of trash to the dump.  She was there when we drove through Col. Sander’s for a bucket of fried chicken.  She helped us order drinks at the Sonic and was the first to grab the daily newspaper and search for the comics. We took her to Sunday school and stayed for church and went on Easter egg hunts in the JC Park.  She sailed high in the swings and slid down the slides in City Park and went with me to meetings of the Erath County Humane Society and basketball games in the school gym.  She won a trophy for miniature cheerleaders when I taught her a routine and sat up half the night sewing a costume.  She was only 3 but she had the lungs of one much older.  At my age she was my little girl all over again to teach and spoil just a little and enjoy a whole lot.

            There have been four more granddaughters since Tonia and I used to sit close together in City Park on July 4^th.  As the wonder of the fireworks display painted the darken sky overhead, I would hold her in front of me and whisper, “There will always be fireworks on your birthday.”  The other four have grown into wonderful girls and women one with a baby son of her own. This July Tonia has two boys who call her “Mama”. They are 2 of 10  great-grandchildren that we love and cherice. Our children are wonderful gifts and we do our best to give them everything, teach them everything and love them all the time.  When grandchildren come along we have learned a lot already. This knowledge keeps us on track and makes us appreciate the time we spend in a shady spot just holding a little hand and  talking.

            Children are wonderful gifts from God.  Great-grandchildren are addition gifts that we might not have expected to receive. Grandchildren are those individuals that we do expect, if we have healthy children, look forward to with anticipation, and shower with hugs and kisses, rocking horses and bicycles with training wheels.  Grandkids give us a second chance to “do it right” and not make the mistakes we made with our own children.  We can pick them up and take them off to wonders unknown like the Zoo and Fossil Rim and the Planetarium.   We can read them dozens of books and play games and color pictures and make grilled cheese sandwiches all in one morning.

            They make us young just one more time.

Index of Previous Articles

This site has been visited times.

Maintained by the
Webmaster, Our-Town Internet Service