Monday, February 9, 2009

An Act of Kindness


Hey, Y'all,
I just happened to think of something the other day that happened about 55 years ago. I had been married about a year and a half to my first husband, Charles. We had a child, Carol, who was just about 6 months old, and were visiting his sister and her husband, Ocie and Orville Blankenship, who lived in Cumberland, Kentucky.

It was my first time to meet Ocie and her family. It was a very important time to me, because Ocie was the oldest girl in Charlie's family and much loved and respected by all of them. Ocie was the peacemaker in the family. There were two sets of children in Charlie's family. The older set, of whom Ocie was one, and the younger set, of whom Charlie was one. There were misunderstandings between the older and younger ones, and Ocie was the major peacemaker.

I can't remember ever seeing Ocie more than just that one time, but we had a lovely time the week that we visited her and Orville. They were wonderful people, and I think they are both passed on for some time now. We picnicked and went swimming, and all the fun things that one does in the summertime in the mountains of Kentucky.

Now, the act of kindness...since I was a very young bride, it was important to me to make a good impression on my husband's family, so I tried very hard to be helpful. The first morning we were there, I offered to help make breakfast, and Ocie had mixed up the biscuits, and showed me how to pinch off a piece of dough, roll it out in my hands and pat it, shaping a biscuit. So I did the biscuits as she showed me.

Then, when everyone came in to eat breakfast, she told them how I had made the biscuits and what a wonderful job I had done. Now, that was a little thing she did, but it made a lot of difference to me. I knew that I had not really made the biscuits, but her praise was an act of kindness, and I have always remembered how much it meant to have that word of priase from her.

It was a wonderful thing that she did and I hope that through the years I have passed on little acts of kindness to others, giving praise when and where it was needed. Ocie was a dear lady. Everyone loved her. Above, see picture of me with Ocie. I wanted to put it on the blog last night when I posted, but couldn't find it. I did find it this morning.

Well, that is it for today, and this is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. Much love to each of you, and I know you won't forget to be kind to someone tomorrow. Bye for now.

7 comments:

Matthew said...

I really enjoy these random stories about your and Grandpa's lives.

Grammy said...

Dear Matt,
Thank you so very much. I enjoy writing them, as well. This was an untold story until now.
Love you,
Grandma

Judy said...

What a great post. My mother used to make biscuits that way by pinching them off and patting them out with her hands. There was someone in our family years ago with the last name of Blankenship. I remember my mother talking about them. Could be a relative. It's a small world anyway!

Unknown said...

Good post Grammy. Talking about biscuits. I can see my Mother making biscuits. She had this big pan, it always had flour in it. She would add more flour and make a hole in the middle. She never used up all the flour. Have you ever seen anyone make biscuits that way?

Mom B said...

I always had positive feelings about Aunt Ocie. I guess you passed that opinion on in how you always spoke of her.

Grammy said...

Clara,
My mom had a big blue bowl that she made biscuits in, and it had a well of flour with a hole in the center, and she would begin her biscuits by putting salt, flour, and baking powder in that hole, add a little flour from the sides of the hole, then she would add shortening (lard), and mix that with her hands, then she would add buttermilk, slowly mixing in more flour until she had the right consistency, and had produced a ball of dough. She would then lift the ball of dough out onto the floured surface of the cabinet shelf (we had a cabinet that had a flour bin, and also a shelf that pulled out, where the biscuits were made and rolled out with a rolling pin. Then she cut them out with a biscuit cutter, and placed them into a floured pan. Yum! They were really good.

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

Another great blog. makes good reading. Thanks alot.


Yvonne