A bright spot

Now where is that Buzzy?

When I was a little girl, my Grandma had asked us kids to call her Bambi. We called her Bambi because she was “so dear”. Bambi is not “dear” in the typical dotting grandmotherly way…rather she is more of a darling in an unconventional way.  When we visited with her we got to try on her lipstick, clothes, high heels and carry her handbags. We got to use her phone and fold ourselves up in her exercise chair. We had free reign to explore and grow – anything would go. And Bambi was always fashionable. She was creative and not afraid of what others thought, in fact I think she enjoyed the mystery...the aura that surrounded her. Bambi always kept them guessing.

War Stories

As I got older, Bambi and Buzzy, my grandfather, would come to visit us in Pittsburgh from Florida for weeks at a time. Buzzy has made his career in the US Navy and was even at Pearl Harbor. He is very organized, is quite the story-teller, has a high moral code and can be very sarcastic. Us kids loved the visits from Bambi and Buzzy – they had a different perspective than my parents and I noticed even at a young age how refreshing that was. They slept till noon, got dressed even later and sometimes even drank in the day. They communicated by bickering with one another about trivial things that would never be solved, it was almost flirtatious. They were interesting – Buzzy was always buying Bambi jewelry or pretty things,  Bambi was always putting Buzzy to “work” and saying how he “liked to do this” (though I knew he just liked to please her), they both played cards, travelled and visited friends regularly. Mostly, they laughed. They laughed loud and they laughed a lot.

Tell your Grandmother....

I visited Bambi and Buzzy this weekend in Jacksonville. They have gotten less mobile and more forgetful over the years. They still manage to find a happy spot though. Bambi is writing a play and I am going to star in it.  She and Buzzy are going to get all “dressed up” and watch me do what “comes so natural to [me] on the stage”.  Buzzy has” let the house slide a bit” but he fully intends to get back over there and “whip it back into order”, he likes to putter around.  And though their health issues have them in two different locations at the moment, they are still asking about one another and even resulted to using me and Yahtzee as messengers as we travelled back and forth between their respective homes. 

I am told I am sometimes like my Bambi – a bit alternative, sometimes eccentric.  I guess I also like to surprise people, make them think a bit differently and keep them intrigued (especially with my fashion!). This compliment honors me.  It has made me less afraid of what other’s think and more focused on what I like and doing what I enjoy.

Through Bambi and Buzzy, I realize the importance of pure, almost childlike, happiness. The necessity to finding the humor in things – even when it may seem difficult to do.

Bambi and Buzzy have been a bright spot in my life. 

And I have learned, from the two of them, 

to laugh loud and laugh a lot