Letters To Lyla

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Dear Lyla,

In my last letter I told you about one of your namesakes, my grandma Lyla. However, you were named after two incredible women, I would like to tell you about the other formidable female today. Your middle name comes from daddy’s great grandma May. I was lucky enough to meet her, it was on her 90th birthday that I first met her, but it was on my second visit to grandma May where this story takes place. When I first met your daddy we had offices across the hall from one another, we were both teaching assistants in graduate school. I guess you could say I noticed your daddy right away, how could I not! Your daddy used to wear Nehru collared shirts with a medicine bag hanging half-way down his chest and he had long hair, past his belt! His hair was so pretty, it grew in very tight ringlets…just like your hair. Daddy’s hair was so thick he had to shave the sides of his head just to manage it all. Many times I would spend  hours braiding your daddy’s hair into little tiny braids, your daddy looked “hip” as they say back in the day. Even though your daddy was rocking some very cool looking hair, there was a problem; he couldn’t get a job. Your daddy applied for a ton of teaching jobs the second year we were together and he would get an interview every single time, but when they saw his long hair they never called him back. I had been telling him for weeks to get a hair cut and finally he had to agree that a young man with long braided hair in southern Missouri wasn’t likely to land a plum teaching gig….and so he cut his hair. Less than two weeks later daddy got his first long term teaching job. You may think that this story is about mommy being right all along, well young one, that is a given, this story is about your grandma May. Shortly after the hair cut we went to visit grandma May. I walked into the room first and daddy followed. You have to understand that grandma May was over 90 years old at this point and didn’t move very fast, but when she saw your daddy she got so excited! She bounced up out of her bed and reached past me to your daddy, her eyes were brimming with tears and she said “there’s my beautiful baby boy!” You might think that your daddy blushed at this point, but he didn’t he just gave grandma a hug and in a surly voice pointed at me and said “She made me do it.” Without skipping a beat she said to daddy “Well you better marry her then, she’s a good one!” I am told by daddy’s cousins that everyone adored great grandma May and no one sassed or disobeyed her. To this day I am not sure if daddy married me because grandma May told him he had to or if because your grandma Caroline is a really bad cook and he fell in love with my cooking (a story for another day)! I wish you could have met your great great grandma May (and I wish I had a picture of daddy with long hair to show you), I am so glad I have a memory of her to share with you. She was a lovely woman and what you need to know little one, is that you come from a long line of strong, sassy women and that you were loved long before you entered the world.

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