This video "All My Love" hit me in the feels, perhaps because I tried to copy Dick Van Dyke's joy and energy in my dance routines when I was younger. Perhaps it's because Dick reminds me of my paternal grandma (who would have been older than Dick), who died on Christmas morning, surrounded by love. She taught me what I know about love and about waiting.
She always made me sit with her while we ate diabetic candies. I remember bouncing around her bright, sun-filled nursing home room on summer afternoons, with a sweetie (hard candy) clanging in my mouth.
My grandma would tell me not to bite the candy, while patting the side of her bed, inviting me and my Dad, who always fussed about fixing the drapes and checking the thermostat, to "Ten' Tuddy," which might loosely translate to "be quiet and still." And so, my Dad and I would sit there, two antsy spirits lovingly tethered to a calm soul, waiting for the candy to dissolve.
I didn't realize how countercultural it was at the time. Waiting is often seen as foolishness, wasteful, and irresponsible when there is so much urgent need around us. A need to do, problem-solve, strategize, help...
And yet, just as the farmer must wait for the right time to harvest, I now know that so many amazing things come from times of waiting. Sitting with my grandma taught me that waiting doesn't need to be passive; in fact, it can sometimes be the most active expression of love. And the clearest declaration of our faith: we are willing to wait for things that are worth it. The sweetness of sitting beside my grandma was priceless.
In these last days of waiting, may we cling to the love around us, while listening to the ancient wisdom of our foremothers, who gently pat the side of the bed during moments of sweetness and invite us to be patient, and wait a while before we rush off to revolutionize the world (which we will).
For their wisdom and love, I say: Thanks be to God.
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