The Unanswerable Question

It's funny, "Restless Native"--you type just like you talk. I would know your post on any blog on the Internet. That is just weird.

Anyway, that was an interesting question; am I a writer who doesn't write, or am I not a writer who does? Well...as interesting as that question is (and confusing), it doesn't matter, because, regardless of the answer, I want to be a Writer Who Writes. Sooooooo.......

Maybe I'll write about someone who has always encouraged me to write, and who has always made me believe I could:

Hi Mana. : )

Let's see...what can I write about Mana?................


What kind of grandmother do you have? There are so many different kinds. Some stay home quite a bit, spending lots of time in the kitchen baking cookies and putting them in cookie jars to wait for the grandchildren to come over.

Not my grandmother.

Some grandmothers are a lot "cooler". They look like they are a Botoxed 35, they drink whiskey and smoke cigarettes (among other things), and instead of cookies, they like to offer their grandkids joints.

Not my grandmother.

Some grandmothers are in-betweeners. They aren't the old ladies, and they aren't the cool ones, either. They are just kind of...there. The grandkids are never offered cookies, of either variety, they never get taken to the zoo, or to the park, or to McDonald's, or just "into town." Strange as it may seem, these kind are the worst. I'll let you figure out why.

But that's not my grandmother, either.

My grandmother is one of kind, I'm just sure of it. *No* *one* could possibly claim a Mana like mine...unless it's another one of her grandchildren. She locks herself out of her car and her house all of the time. She tapes sparkly objects, meant for more practical uses like writing letters, onto the dashboard of her mini-van. She somehow still manages to lose her glasses, even though she has 50 pairs of them laying around her house. And sometimes, my normally quiet grandmother will yell at people on the television. I like it when she does this because it usually means she'll utter the phrase "That just makes me so darn mad!", which is a total and complete Mana Phrase, and is sometimes followed by, "Jim (my grandfather)! Hand me the remote. This just makes me so darn mad...."

I don't remember ever having a freshly baked cookie at my grandmother's house. But I do remember hot chocolate and marshmellows every December when we decorated her Christmas tree. I remember Crystal Lite, and Gulliver's Travels, and watching myself on the TV as her video-camera was running. I remember piano lessons, voice lessons, and swinging, and skating and pushing a broom on the outside patio.

No, there haven't been many cookies, but we--the Richard Grandchildren--have something that will last a lot longer. Something that took a lot of time, and love, and devotion. Mana has written each of us our own song, and our own story. And with 23 grandchildren, this was no easy feat. I'll never forget the first time I heard "Tracy Takes a Trip", and I can't wait to sing my song to my own children, called simply "Tracy's Song." If you ever see my grandmother, ask her to sing it for you. She'll have to think a while, because she's Mana, but she'll remember.

That's my grandmother--in a nutshell. I could go on. I could tell about getting in trouble at Mana's house, or about giving her near-heart attacks, or the trips we took to Tulsa and Kansas, or a million other things, but no matter what I say, or how long I took to say it, I don't know that it could ever all be said. She's just that unique.

I love you, Mana. Thanks for everything.