~Hammer's Story~
In this story, Hammer isn't a tool that drives nails into wood. Hammer is my one of a kind grandmother. I know Hammer is a strange name for a grandmother. I have been told that as a baby my mother taught me to call my grandmother "Granny." Then after a while, I started calling her "Grammer." Then after that, I began to call her "Hammer." As you might guess, the name stuck with her. To this day, I along with some other family members, call her Hammer.
Hammer is a wonderful grandmother. I never saw her get angry or raise her voice. She always had a sweet spirit about her and all little children loved being around her. Some of my favorite times were spent with her when I was a small child. My brother and I would sit at her kitchen table with play dough and play for hours. She spent lots of time patiently teaching me how to sew.
One Easter Sunday, in the late 70's she was in the hospital. She made me a card that I still have to this day. She took a piece of white paper and folded it in half. On the front she drew a picture in blue ink of a country church with a horse and wagon in front of the church. Inside the card she wrote a story of when she was a child. These were her words...
There is a very special place that I remember as a child. Easter was a two mile walk or in a wagon. Sun rise services and then a morning meal under the trees. The men had been there the day before to set up tables and the women stayed home. I baked and cooked all day. After the morning meal, everyone entered the little country church for our Easter Service. Most of us had new dresses that had been made at home and many had new shoes, ordered from the Sears Catalog.
After the worship service, we had a noon day meal under the trees with home made ice cream and even then an Easter egg hunt for all the little ones. I can remember my grandmother coloring eggs with bits of crepe paper soaked in water. But, most of all, I remember the ride home, down the country road, with some in wagon, and some walking with their voices joined together in song, singing the glory of God, and His gift to us. That was almost 50 years ago and the most wonderful thing about that Easter Sunday, so many years ago, is that God's love is just as great today. That Jesus loves all His children and that His love is always with us.
By the way, the little country church is still there and I know that this beautiful Easter morning the doors are wide open and if we were near, we could hear their voices raised in song, singing of God's love.
Thanks Wendy for my beautiful graphics!
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