Remembering Grandma Part 2

There are so many funny stories in our family and many take place on my grandparents farm in West Martinsburg but this one I am going to share because it is a favorite of mine and it reminds me of the story of the workers in the vineyard (Matt 20:1-16) and it makes me laugh.As the youngest in the family at that time, (I was about five or six and my little sister didn’t arrive until I was eight) I would usually hang out with my Grandma while the days work was being done.  In the evening I would hang out with my uncle during the milking but for the most part, I really did very little work.  My older brothers and sisters, on the other hand, had regular chores.  My sisters helped in the garden and the house and my brothers helped with the farm, the haying and some upkeep.  Much of the time we wandered around and had fun though.  But on this particular Saturday, Grandpa was taking Grandma into town to do some grocery shopping and I was with them.  My siblings were assigned the most wretched job there was, cleaning out the chicken coop (which was a small shed-like structure)….on a nice, hot, sunny day in the summer.  It was miserable for them and they worked all the time that we were gone because Grandma had promised them a special surprise.  Grandma was known for her less then stellar surprises…we would have been much happier if she just baked us a dessert because that was a real treat.  So as my brothers made their way through the disgusting mess of the chicken coop I was happily la de da’ing my way in the grocery cart with Grandma.  When it was almost time to leave the store, she asked me which kind of fun size candy bar I wanted to pick for my brothers and sisters.  How exciting for me! After all, this was the early 70’s and fun-size was still a treat!  And I got to pick, as the youngest of six I never got to pick!  So I was happy as all get out as we made our way back up the hill home to surprise my brothers and sisters.Little did I know, that while they were grousing about cleaning the coop, one of my brothers joked that, “watch the surprise be a fun size candy bar.”  They were right, an hour or more in the heat and smell of the chicken coop got them the same reward as being carted around and babied; a fun size candy bar.  I can still remember the look on their faces as Grandma handed one to me for all of my work! Knowing my siblings as I did, I felt the full force of the injustice in their stares of disbelief.  If I had only known scripture well enough at five or six, I might have asked them; “Are you envious because she is generous?” Matt 20:15  Probably a good thing I didn’t it may have gotten me throttled!To this day, the story lives as does my notoriety for being the one worker who did no work but received payment.  Perhaps this should be my public apology?  Nah.  I hope Grandma is up there chuckling though because even though they make fun of that, it is the very reason we miss her so.  She was so down to earth and so refreshing, and really knew how to temper our greedy little hearts with her example.