Published: October 01, 2008 09:55 am         

Grandma’s legacy will live on in daughter’s name

Commentary by Danielle Pelkey

The North Jefferson News



It’s been more than seven months since my wonderful Grandma, Anna Louise Tesseneer, passed away.

I know it may seem like enough time to get over it, but things happen almost every day to remind me of this precious lady.

The most recent memories have come about as the family goes through belongings at her house. We have been divvying up the things that we had given her in the past and that just brought up a whole new set of feelings for our loss.

Unknown to all of us, Grandma kept every single card or letter of thanks that was ever given to her. She even had cards that dated back to when my dad was dating my mom and went into the military. It was so neat to read about how he thought and was back then.

Not just that, she kept little coloring book pages that my sister and I had done more than 20 years ago. She had toys that I had forgotten all about. The original Strawberry Shortcake house was there. I almost cried when I saw it.

I had no idea that she was so sentimental. Everything that was given to her in the house had a little sticker with the giver’s name on it. There was not much to question when it came to who’s was who’s.

When I think back to my Grandma, I think of her famous grits and how her hair was always in the perfect place. I think of her raising her shaking hands to the Lord in praise during church and her taking care of her flowers in the front yard. I also think back to her giving me the whippin’ of my life for climbing on her new fence. (By the way, I wasn’t climbing, I was just pulling up on it. She didn’t care, I got the whippin’ anyway.)

She was an awesome woman and I am so humbled to walk after her in our family heritage. This is one of the main reasons that my next daughter will carry on her name, Anna. It may sound a little dated to some of you, but the meaning behind her name will live on for the rest of her life. I am honored to be able to give such a majestic name to my little girl when she is born. I will make sure that she knows where her name came from and how important it is to protect the honor that comes along with being named after Grandma.

I’m glad that we have finished going through Grandma’s belongings and that that hard time is over for us. I’m sure there will still be hard days ahead. When I give birth and my Grandma isn’t there crying tears of joy, it will be hard for me. But I know that she is in a much better place.

She isn’t missing us at all right now. We’ll see her again soon enough. But until that day, I will never forget the memories and the heart-felt love that have always come from my Grandma.