My Crushes as a Little Girl:

Posted on August 24, 2015 by GloriaFayeBrownBates

By Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee/@GeeGranny on Twitter

Gloria Faye Brown

When I was a little girl, I had a crush on the most unusual people. I’ve never heard of anyone else having a crush on these people as a child.

I loved Higgins, the butler … Burl Ives, and Tom Jones, and the guy who played The Fugitive. I wonder what that meant?

I think looking back to when I was a child … it meant I loved kindness. They projected kindness like George, my step-grandfather (the only grandfather I ever knew) … the kindest man I ever knew until …

Skip. Skip is the kindest man I know … George, Skip, and another person who is our friend. I’ve never known any kinder men in my entire life.

Kindness goes farther than good looks, charming personalities. This is strictly my Gloria Opinion … God knows I have a lot of them. Thankfully, I am open-minded … so, I’m constantly changing with the times.

Yes, kindness means everything. I’m sure a lot of people like wickedly handsome/beautiful looks before kindness. I don’t, I never have. This is not to say I’ve never admired good looks! 🙂

Note by this Author: To win my Heart is to see, hear, feel kindness.

Photo/story owned by Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee.

A Little Kindness Goes a Long Way …

Posted on July 21, 2015 by GloriaFayeBrownBates

A Little Kindness Goes a Long Way …

By Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee/@GeeGranny on Twitter

Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee

Yesterday Skip and I had to run errands, and he needed to stop by to speak to someone. I didn’t know the people, so I sat in the car. I had my phone to occupy, entertain me.

As I sat there, I admired the beauty surrounding the home we were at. It sat beside a swamp .. with a pier. I looked out over the water … beautiful aquatic plants were everywhere. Do you know what I thought of?

Alligators. Yes, my mind had to conjure up alligators … and my mind began making up a story! I just know this … no one would ever catch me sitting on the end of the pier, swinging my feet! It’s the writer in me … not only that, I saw something on the news I’d never seen, heard before. It was on our local news, yesterday.

At Kerr Lake … a man was attacked by a … beaver! Yes, a beaver attacked him while he was in the water. His daughters were videoing the beaver … they were laughing. At first it was funny until they all began to be aware that the beaver wasn’t playing, and it wasn’t being cute!

The beaver began biting the man. He had stitches in his upper thigh where the beaver took out a chunk of flesh, and a bite on his knee. They were serious bites! The beaver was relentless! Thankfully the man got back up on the boat. The beaver was swimming around the boat.

The man is now, undergoing rabies shots. Anyway, lately there have been 8 shark attacks at our North Carolina beaches. Not long ago in Raleigh, a coyote attacked a man … normally they don’t do that. It had rabies. There was another attack by rabid raccoon not so long ago. Reminds me of the new series on tv … Zoo.

Anyway, my mind was entertaining me … so, was my phone as I checked my Facebook, email, blogs and such … as I waited for Skip. I’m not the type of person who will go easily into someone’s house at all. I’m not a good visitor at all … it’s just ‘not me’.

I heard the lady speaking, calling my name before I saw her. “Gloria, Gloria … come on inside the house, it’s so hot out here”! She walked toward where I sat … invited me to go inside. She was so nice, I instantly liked her very much. She had to leave to go somewhere … she wanted me to go on inside.

I thanked her, smiling at her. She was smiling at me. I had seen her several years ago at a function we all attended … I didn’t think I would like her at all. Last year, we were all at the same place once again … and she walked over to me, spoke, hugged me … was very nice to me. She and her husband left. I never forgot her kindness.

Same thing … when yesterday she showed such genuine kindness once again. I won’t forget. Though I didn’t go inside her home … I waited for Skip feeling happy from being treated so nicely. Skip and her husband came out to where I was sitting.

Skip introduced him, I shook hands with him. Her husband was very nice, also. Not only that … they were dog-lovers like us. They had 3 dogs … and like all dogs, they loved Skip. Dogs love Skip, they recognize Skip … naturally come to him. They sense he is a good person, loves dogs with his Heart.

Anyway, the woman’s husband was just as nice as she had been. Their kindness touched my Heart, and meant the world to me. In my mind, I kept thinking how a little kindness goes a long way.

Oh … I just saw on Channel 5, our local news … the ocean waves at a Texas beach … beautiful. Guess what was sitting on the beach? A 8 foot alligator! The whole picture was beautiful with waves washing over it, the sun glistening on the water … the healthy alligator!

Artwork by Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee

No one thinks about alligators being in the ocean … but … they are there. My mind is trying its best at this moment to create a story about that alligator! I can see it now, just hidden by the waves washing over it … little children, a dog … no! Get away! Get away!

Oh … what was important here, what I was trying to convey wasn’t about attacking animals, and such … it was about how kindness goes a long way! 🙂

Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee

Note by this Author:

See how my mind was trying to go on to create stories as I was writing about something I thought was special? I do that all the time … when I sit down to write … I have a hard time sometimes, thinking of … what to write about! 🙂

Photos/true color of my life owned/written by Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee.

You Are A Damn He Man!

Posted on September 16, 2014 by GloriaFayeBrownBates

You Are A Damn He Man!

By Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee

Grandma Alma, and George … the most colorful characters in my young life. I loved them with my very Heart. They lived in Hell … they didn’t have a choice. They had a lot of love, though. Sometimes, even that … wasn’t enough.

It ain’t no such a damn thing! The blind man was mad. His wife had just accused him of the next door neighbor! What was she thinking? He was blind … couldn’t see a damn thing!

The woman sat in her old, upholstered rose-colored chair. She was paralyzed. She had one good side, one ‘bad’ side’ She could use her left arm, hand, leg. She reached with her left hand for her famous glass of cold water. It sat up on the old, dusty dresser beside her chair.

The old dresser held Grandma Alma’s many bottles of medicines. The mirror on it had a permanent ‘fog’ … you could only see shadows in the glass. George always had Grandma Alma a glass of water, with ice in it … it always sat there for her. There was a permanent water ring where it sat.

Faye was holding her breath … she knew what was going to come next if George didn’t quit hollering. She looked around … she saw her cousins in the room next to George and Grandma Alma’s sitting room. All the kids were snickering … they all knew what Grandma Alma was getting ready to do!

You damn he man! Grandma Alma yelled at George that he was a ‘he man’! Those were always her famous words. She had just pressed the right spot with George … he began hollering that he wasn’t a he man … and he didn’t go with the next door neighbor!

Well … that did it with Grandma Alma! That hollering pissed her off! She dashed that glass of cold water on George, right in his face! Talk about hollering, George did let out a roar.

In the next room, unknowing to them … all the children were rolling on the floor. They had their hands over their mouths … it was so funny! They had seen this scene play out time after time.

George would make Grandma Alma mad … and the next thing they knew, she would make him roar like a lion … then, she’d throw that famous glass of cold water on him! That should cool your ass off … you damn he man!

Grandma Alma would sit there afterwards … with a grin on her face. It reminded one of a cat … licking its lips in satisfaction! She’d say it again … ‘You are a damn he man’!

……………………..

This is a true story from my childhood. George, my step-grandfather … was the only grandfather I knew. I loved him dearly. He was blind … couldn’t see anything.

Grandma Alma was paralyzed … she could drag her foot when George helped her to walk. Her ‘bad’ arm would dangle as she walked. She held onto the walker with her ‘good’ hand. George would walk her each day to the front screen door.

She would look out at the flowers she loved … the flowers she used to work in … in the heat. She had a stroke that put her in a coma for months. She woke up paralyzed.

All of us children were very young. One day Grandma Alma was walking … the next, she was in a sterile room with all white around her … she never spoke anymore. We’d tip-toe into the bedroom where she was, reach up to touch her face. She never woke up.

Grandma Alma, George had only Hell in their lives. It wasn’t that they chose to have it … all the bad stuff would come there to them. They didn’t have to look for any of it.

How they lived in the world they did, blind and paralyzed … I’ll never know. My mind goes back often to ‘see them’ … I could see they’d fuss at each other to blow off steam.

It would look, sound bad to anyone … I’m sure. But, they loved each other with their Hearts. They didn’t mean to be like that … but, what else could they do to get out pent-up frustrations.

They were the kindest people in the world. They never turned anyone down to come live with them. They had no money, barely enough food for themselves. They just had lots of love. Even with all the love in their Hearts … they couldn’t stop all the ‘bad stuff’ that happened.

Both would cry for the children, and what happened to them through time … all of the children ended up at their house at one time or other.

Hell … no one knows the Hell at that house … in my young mind … that house sat over the portal of Hell. The devil was always around … hell was raised all the time!

Story/Photo are both owned by me … Gloria Faye Brown Bates/ &grannygee

They Were The Kindest Of Them All …

Posted on September 16, 2014 by GloriaFayeBrownBates

They Were The Kindest Of Them All …

By Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee

Photo of Skip, and our Kissy. We have two more Pups named Chadwick Elsworth, and Camie Rose. They are my whole world …

The elderly, blind man sat in his old wooden chair on the front porch. He was smiling softly … the smile even lit up his sightless eyes.

The little girl sitting at his feet looking up at his face … smiled back at him. She loved to see George smile … she always tried to make him smile. His smile touched this little girl’s Heart … it was so kind, sweet. George was the kindest man she ever knew in her little girl life.

She was excited … wished the other kids would come on. George was going to tell stories about Brer Rabbit, Three Bears, and who knew what else! George could make the kids ‘see’ the story as he told it!

She sat on the cool cement of the front porch, waited eagerly. She saw her cousins walking up to the house. They’re coming, George, they’re coming!

She picked at her big toe … she’d stumped it the other day. She was always getting hurt. To keep up with all the boys, she had to be tough … it wasn’t easy. No, it wasn’t easy at all … but, she damn sure did it!

The little girl leaned her head against George’s knee. She listened to the other kids as they were shoving, pushing each other to sit down. I’m sitting here! No, I want to sit there!

George told them to hush that noise if they wanted him to tell them stories. That shut the children up … there wasn’t nothing like George’s stories!

Everyone quieted down. They sat in a semi-circle around George. They waited.

George cleared his throat … and began. He began to talk in Brer Rabbit’s voice … the story was on!

The kids sat mesmerized for the next hour. George had transported them into a make-believe world. It was wonderful, special. The little girl loved it. She could tell stories, too. She’d learned from George … only his was the best!

George finished up with the last story. He told the children it was time for him to go inside, and see if Grandma Alma needed anything.

Faye, the little girl, looked up at him … thinking he was the best grandpa in the world. She loved him with her little girl Heart. He was always so kind to her, to others. He sure loved Grandma Alma.

Until this day … she only knew three of the kindest men she’d ever known. George being the first … Skip being the second … and their friend … being the third.

In her whole life … that’s saying a lot … those three men were the most kindest men of all. She loved them all with her Heart. They were the kindest of all.

Photo is owned by me … Gloria Faye Brown Bates/ &grannygee

Story is true … I was the little girl named Faye. Story is owned by me, Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee