This was a prayer posted on my grandmother's refrigerator.
To accept the things I cannot change;
I remember it vividly.
The courage to change the things that I can;
A purple magnet with white lettering.
And the wisdom to know the difference.
Stuck onto a fridge with so many other things that I don't think I could force myself to remember even if I wanted to.
I don't know why this particular magnet sticks out to me. My grandmother certainly wasn't a recovering alcoholic. I don't know why this prayer means so much. We weren't the type to pray rehearsed prayers. The only rehearsed prayer I remember growing up was my grandfather's dinner blessing: "Gracious Lord, remember us in mercy and grant us this blessing which we are about to receive. We humbly ask in Your Name's sake. Amen." I can still see his face when my eyes should have been closed. I can still hear his voice with all of the inflection of every word. There was so much sincerity in those words from him. He knew he was speaking to his Gracious Lord. He knew the Lord heard him. He knew that his meal would be blessed just for the asking. He knew we all needed that mercy. I can hear him counting because he needed the patience to give us the mercy we needed...1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 (emphasis his). I hear his voice whenever I go across the "Dames Point" bridge saying that it is not the Dames Point bridge, it is the Napolean Bonaparte Broward bridge. When I see a speed limit sign, I can hear him saying that is the maximum possible speed you should reach under the best possible conditions.
It's funny what you remember that you never tried to remember and all of the things you try to remember that you just can't seem to.
What about you?
What simple things do you remember?
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