A long time ago, there was this couple who came together in a small town in north Texas, just miles from the Red River on the border with Oklahoma.
She was a petite beauty with a glorious soprano voice, a strong faith in God and His son Jesus. She carried herself with humility, gentleness, humor, and hard work.
He was handsome, and strong, with a determined spirit and not too little pride.
He saw in her the perfect woman who would blend easily with him to create a home. She saw a man who might need some taming with love and understanding, but would become the head of the household she desired. 
They both came from large families. They learned the importance of holding family close, and the value a making the time and effort to gather together.
They shared a life of hard work, the loss of their first child that was followed by six who ultimately survived them. They were church going, tax paying, Great Depression surviving good people. They had a love song they sang together that all of the family have learned. She told stories we all loved, taught Sunday school and always had something cooking on the stove. He could do amazing things with wood. Beautiful custom desks, that he made for executives to use in their offices. The faults they had were culturally typical of the time and place of their lives, 
and as they lived they learned that their perspectives were not acceptable.
The picture of the beautiful hands I posted at the top of my blog page are the hands of these two humans, my mother’s parents.
They now are survived by only two children, my uncle Foy and my aunt Faith. Yet…the next generation-the grandchildren, great grandchildren and so on are perpetuating the love, closeness and attachment that Nannie and Papaw taught us. I am proud to be named after her, and have been told I resemble her. He and I had a few heated go-arounds in the past about his racial attitude and he did open his mind as he grew older, but I knew, no matter what, he loved me his first grandchild.
C.D. and Nancy Reba Forehand. My grandparents. I hope we will continue to make them proud.
Cheers!
-N