2:53 p.m. - 2006-07-10
Heaven Help Me
Recently, I learned that Grandma has quite an elaborate prayer ritual. Well, not so much of a ritual, but more of a lengthy list of people and things she prays for. My dad brought this up last week when they were all visiting and we celebrated Grandma's upcoming 93rd birthday.
It's probably not surprising that an elderly woman has so much invested in her prayers. I thought she might have been peeved that my dad brought it up, apropos of nothing more than just making conversation, but she felt very comfortable talking about it.
She says her prayers before she goes to bed at night, and it takes her about 30 minutes. She says she has an abbreviated version she uses for when she's too tired to get through the whole litany, which is surprising -- in that she doesn't use it *every* night, since Grandma can falls asleep mid-sentence. (So can I. I'm not judging.)
She starts by praying for her family -- my dad and mom and my brother and husband and me, then to her other son and his family. Then all the extended family, then on to all those who have passed before us, including her husband, my Grandpa Frank, who died 20 years ago this month.
Then she moves on to dead celebrities. Rosemary Clooney is on the list. So is her beloved Johnny Carson, as well as "some colored fellow who died the same day as Johnny Carson," but whose name she can't remember. At first I wondered if maybe the celebrity aspect diminishes from the prayerful-ness for my family and me, but I've decided that's a selfish attitude, and that anyone who prays for me in any form should be appreciated.
