Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
“OK, so, Papa, and Grandma, I need y'all to take a walk with me real quick, so that you will be safe.”
Seven-year-old Amanda Ludlow was processing what she heard her “brown grandparents,” Mr. Thomas and Mrs. Velma Stepforth next door, saying about a phone call they got, and both her Ludlow grandparents and her brown grandparents were going to get a whole new laugh …
“I need y'all to walk just the way I am walking real quick … .”
And so Capt. Robert and Mrs. Thalia Ludlow were soon marching double-time around the tables they and their neighbors were about to eat at on the lawn, hustling after their granddaughter.
“Pop-Pop and Big Mama Stepforth, I need y'all to come out here too, and maybe you too, Melvin (21) and Vanna (days from 18) and Tom (16), because you are getting old too!”
“I couldn't even say no – it was like the Spirit told me to shut up!” Melvin said later.
“Well,” Vanna said, “sometimes, the Spirit doesn't have us speak in tongues, but tells our tongues to be quiet.”
“We kinda need the Spirit to do more of that,” Tom said. “You wouldn't believe the church story the Lofton County Free Voice has to run tomorrow – if only the Spirit had told the folks not to speakeasy but to shut all the way up!”
“Wait, what?” Melvin said.
“Wait – some church is running a speakeasy – during Covid?” Vanna said.
“I'm telling you – it's hitting tomorrow!”
All this was after the march was completed and everyone found out what was going on.
“See, I heard Mrs. Stepforth talking about how it's not good for old people to have lack of circulation, so I needed to make sure you old people you got your circles in, and especially you, Papa and Grandma, because I wasn't there for eight weeks to take care of you, so I needed you to be safe!”
The adults and older children all looked at each other...
“Because, see, some people don't play about theirs and will break bad, but, I'm not built like that, so I have to make sure to do the things with you so you don't feel alone so it's easier for you, like Robert spots you and exercises with you, Papa.”
“Big Robert” Ludlow was 58, and still doing all the calisthenics and isometrics that kept him in shape as an Army captain down to his retirement at age 55. “Lil' Robert” Ludlow was the captain's five-year-old baby grandson, and got up every day to do as much of that same exercise as could be adjusted for his age, and indeed spotted his grandfather when he lifted weights, just like his grandfather spotted him when he was lifting his Lego barbells.
“See, that keeps you encouraged, but, he can't think of everything, because he's five, so I gotta do my part, too. I'm going to start coming in and exercising with you too, Grandma, but, we first needed to get you caught up on your circles and stuff.”
“My darling Amanda,” Capt. Ludlow said, “circulation in that sense means how the blood goes around your body. However, walking does have the blood go around your body better, but it is not necessary to go in circles.”
“Oh, it's on the inside,” Amanda said.
“It's on the inside, so we do need to take of our hearts and our blood pressure, and so exercise does help,” Mrs. Ludlow said. “You're welcome to come in and exercise with me any time, Amanda, and sometimes I'll come out and get my hula hoop life back together with you and Edwina and Eleanor.”
“And in the meantime, you know what I think, because eight weeks is a long time?” Capt. Ludlow said. “I think the circulation of feeling safe around here could use some snugglecouragement!”
Amanda grinned and ran and jumped into her grandfather's arms, and Mrs. Ludlow put her arms around them both, so she and her grandparents exchanged some high-quality snugglecouragement before dinner!
“Did you want some snugglecouragement, Melvin?” Mrs. Velma Stepforth teased her eldest Trent grandson.
“Grandma, I need you to please stop,” he said as he walked into the house. “I was 21 before I was put on a double-time march and came out an old man – I need some Crio Bru and to tip some things I don't even drink off in it, trying to deal with these kids and these churches that – well, y'all will see that tomorrow!”
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