Laura Mae in the House

Son Malik turned 36 on Feb. 26th, 2007. It's a strange feeling to be a mother for such a long time. I never thought about getting to this point, and yet here I am. Each year, I annoy him with the story of his birth, how Aunt Louie and I were on the phone and she and my cousin Kenny made the 20 minute trip to my DC apartment in about 7 minutes when she realized I was having contractions, how the first thing I said to him was, "Hi baby!" and I could swear he answered.

I got that from Mama Laura, one of my mother's mothers. Every year on my birthday she told me about my birth, about how tiny I was, how I looked at her with my face all "squinched up." She made me feel ten feet tall.

Mama Laura could make any dress, coat, hat, quilt, sweater or anything else just by looking at a picture of it. She could cook for two or twenty with equal ease. She always had a hanky or a red and white striped mint candy at the ready. She was that Grandma who only exists at Central Casting but so much better.

And me? I was Mama Laura's baby. At Mama Laura's house I felt safe and warm. And creative. I felt like I could make anything. She taught me to sew and crochet and make potholders with a small loom. Her example made it possible for me to teach myself macramé, knitting, and any craft that caught my fancy. She made it all look so easy.

Mama Laura secretly took driving lessons when her 50th birthday was a thing of the past. She was going somewhere with her husband Booker and volunteered to drive. He let her sit in the driver's seat since he knew she was joking. I still wish I'd been there as she started up the car and drove off. She said he almost fainted. I tend to believe that in those pre-seatbelt days he may have just jumped out and kept running.

As I contemplate my 36 interesting, shocking, fun, frustrating, wonderful years of motherhood, I can see how Mama Laura helped me along the way even when she wasn't around. I don't think I ever told her how lucky I was to have her, but whereever she is now, she's smiling with those big dimples (twice the size of mine) and saying, "that's Mama Laura's baby." So everything is all right.