Dearest Grandchildren

Dearest Grandchildren in age order:

Laura, Cole, Katherine, Alissa, Alex, Ryan, Daniel, and Matthew:

When I was young I saw my grandmothers more than you do.  They always had words of wisdom to pass down to me, and I profited by what they told me.

My Grandmother Ellis (Beulah Valentine Grady Ellis) sewed without a pattern and made dresses for a lot of prominent women in Houston.  Mamma (Stella Brown (Miss Brownie) McKisick Younger, also sewed without a pattern and made numerous things for us.  Beulah had a daughter, Jack (Jacqueline; Aunt Jack), who required a great deal of personal attention as a widow.  Stella's husband, my granddad,  Williamson Henry Younger also required extra attention, because he was her aging and elderly husband. 

As there are eight of you, and I hardly ever am alone with any of you and therefore, cannot take advantage of a pleasant conversation "between us two,"  I chose to discuss with you and share my words of wisdom from my 75 years in a blog.

First of all...none of us is perfect, but we sure can try to be.  We all need to be successful and contributing members of the world.  Be kind, be loyal, be helpful always.  But take care of yourself first.  First be healthy!  Take care of your health. Your health is the most important asset you have.  Be a moral person.  Be slow to anger.  Be kind to other people.  Happiness will follow. 

Please get an education in some career; law, medicine, teaching...something that will sustain you financially well until you retire.   Make enough money to be independent;  spend enough money to help others and yourself;  save enough money, so when you're old, you will have enough to support yourself.  Don't ever expect anything from anybody else but yourself.  Always keep a supply of money drawing interest somewhere. 

Marry well.  That's important.  Sometimes we don't know what that means when we're young.  Our hormones are all over the place and we pick just anybody that raises the level of hormones, but that's not always the wisest choice for the long run.  Pick a marriage partner that compliments you. Pick someone, who is close to your age, so you'll have things in common to talk about when you're older.  Someone who is your best friend, someone who understands you. Someone who has respect for you and treats you accordingly. Someone you can talk to about anything and everything for hours.   Always treat them as though they were special.  Treat them with kindness and love.  Give them a nice compliment every day.   Make them feel good.  And make them proud of you.  Anger will come, but try to temper that anger with love.  Be understanding of other peoples' quirks that are different than yours...and yes, you, too, have quirks.  :-)

Try to stay calm during tedious times.  Pressure may cause illness and anger.   Anger is bad for you;  try to not be angry.  Be patient in all things.  The Bible says "In your patience will you find your reward."  It's so true. 

Alcohol, drugs, and other things like that turn you into somebody different.  Alcohol is all right in moderation, but it's not all right if it makes you behave in an unseemly manner. 

Don't allow other people to take advantage of you nor be mean to you.  Walk away with your nose up in the air. Mean people can beat you down and make you feel terrible and ruin your health. 

A few words of wisdom from Grady Ellis, your great grandfather on my side.  He was a loving father to me....."always try to do the right thing, the moral thing, and always use common sense."  If you're inclined to be impulsive, stop and think before you do ANYTHING. 

Always remember that Daddy Jim and I have  loved you more than anything.  We would have spent a lot more time with you if we could have.   We've led a good life, and we've conquered all the bad stuff.  And we want the same for you and your children. 

When your parents are old, please take good care of them for me;  remember, they were my babies at one time.

All my love,

MiMi
(aka Brownie Ellis MacKie)








 









To be continued....

Dear Sis

July 27, 1988

I am on my way home after ten glorious days at Camp Ellis.  Am up for the endurance medal;  although I would have loved to try for the marksmanship medal.

Great fun was had by all.  Lil "out-pranked" everyone with her Ivory Snow in the dishwasher routine, which had suds rolling in the aisles.  Then she topped that with pulling on the panty hose in the car routine and barging in on me twice while I was naked in the bathroom.  We girls really giggled and had a lot of fun.

I especially liked Lil's game with the TV, "Round and Round we go with the channels and where we stop...nobody knows."

"Did you wash you hair?" became the question of the day.  Every thirty minutes.  "Yes, Momma, I washed my hair."

Grady was a runner up in the prankster contest with his version of "Peeing behind a large bush on the Greenville, TX courthouse lawn."

HE WILL NOT TALK WITH ME!  KEEPS MAKING EXCUSES FOR HER! UNCLE HAROLD SAYS SHE'S "JUST DEPRESSED AND NEEDS SHOCK TREATMENTS"   NOT SO. 

Found Mom a housekeeper...actually two of them...coming every other week on Monday starting August 8.

Jack (Jaqueline) McGraw, wife of Garnet, who also had Alzheimers, recommended a group for Dad at Home Hospice.  Jack's been a big GUIDING help.    I believe that Dad will turn up his nose at any group therapy of any kind.....Do what you can!

Momma is much worse than we thought. She is losing verbal abilities.  Her speech is garbled a great deal of the time, and she cannot write. Jack McGraw said that if we told Mother that she had Alzheimers she wouldn't believe us, so as much as I wanted to tell her, it doesn't matter anymore.

I talked with Emmett Essin.  He is aware of her condition.  (Ironically, Emmett's wife developed Alzheimers later).

My opinion on involving Mom in a study in Wichita Falls is that I think it would agitate Mom and Dad both and hasten her deterioration.  But I'll leave it up to you.

We drove to Greenville and Sulphur Springs on Sunday.  Dad's driving is less than the best and he endangered us at least three times.  It was a "white knuckle" trip.  Dad refuses to face reality and is in many ways in as bad a shape as Mom.

We checked out the Renaissance and the Methodist homes.  There are no  resident nurses in either.  Mom will need full time care eventually.  Guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.  Jack said she used to put Garnet in a plane every Thursday, and they'd go somewhere as far as they could go because the only time she could sleep was when she was on the plane;  he couldn't get off the plane to roam. 

Dad is growing increasingly irritable.

Love, Brownie

This letter was never sent, but there's history in it.  It should be preserved.