How Great Thou Art

I am by no means an emotional person. I know there are about three people reading this going "uh, yeah huh!" but they're stupid because I'm really not one to show my tears. I have to reaaally be hurting to be crying and I mean REALLY hurting. Or at least that's how it used to be because, today, I got emotional twice. Two different things made me emotional. Two. That's a record for one day. I have no idea what is happening to me but lately it's like "Ohhhmygosh, a puppy looked at me. I need a tissue." It's not even that time of the month.

The first time I got emotional today was when my mom came home from cleaning out my great aunt's attic. They had to clean it out because of some damage from Sandy. Apparently, it was a lot of work. Thank goodness I had homework, eh? Anyway, I don't know where she found the package of pictures she brought home afterwards but I'm pretty sure it wasn't up there in the attic. Slacker. The pictures were of my mom's bridal shower. I was looking through them and I found a picture of my dad's mother, MeMe we called her. I saw the picture and I got attached to it instantly. I loved MeMe so much. My parents could leave me with her for weeks while my mom was TDY and I wouldn't complain or get homesick. She was my favorite. Now this picture of her wasn't a particularly good picture but I loved it anyways. Tears filled my eyes. I couldn't stop looking at it. I haven't seen her in so long and most of the pictures we have of her come from around the time that she was sick. But in this picture, she's smiling and happy. I don't think my mom is going to be able to get that picture back from me for a looong time.

The second time I got emotional today was when I came home from my uncle's house. My mom was out with her friends so it was just my grandma and I for a while. I had a lot of homework to finish up so I went upstairs and left her alone to watch TV until my mom made it home. I was writing a paper when I heard a familiar song coming from downstairs. My first thought was, "hey..that sounds churchy." So I started heading towards the stairs to see what was happening. As I got to the bottom, I realized the song was "How Great Thou Art" and my grandma was sitting in her recliner humming along. When she saw me she said, "Emily! Oh, this is my favorite hymn. I love it! If I were home alone I'd be singing along." I looked at the TV and saw the words going across. I told my grandma that I loved this hymn, too, and that she should sing along anyways. She told me that she doesn't like others to hear her sing. I told her that I'm the same way and that I rarely sing along with the hymns in church. My grandma then says in a low voice as if it were a secret, "I'll sing along if you sing along with me." I loved the look on her face when she said this. It was almost hopeful. So there we were singing along to How Great Thou Art in the living room. When it was over she looked at me and said, "Thank you." In that moment, tears filled my eyes for the second time. I don't know who it impacted more but I'm so very grateful that I was home to experience that moment with her.