It’s my late grandmother’s birthday. I was reminded of this by my aunts on Facebook, and I’m glad I was. I called my grandmother, Mun. I’m pretty sure it is because my mother and her siblings called her Ma, but I mistook it for Mun. Now I just consider it my special name for her. My grandmother passed away when I was seven years old. I had such love for her.
I still remember things that we did. I remember her making me cornbread and buttermilk, and even pig ears in vinegar. This is stuff I would NEVER eat now. My mom and aunts said that I was a picky eater and would never eat a lot of things, so my mun would just make me biscuits and I would always eat that.
I was with my grandmother a lot when I was a baby. I loved spending the night at her house. Her and my mom were the most influential people in my life. I just remember how strong she was as a single woman (widowed) with eleven children. You didn’t mess with her either. I never heard her complain about a thing. She was an avid church goer and dragged all of her kids and grand kids along with her. It was a huge family and she managed to keep us all together. There are so many stories that I could probably share, but ultimately I just want to say Happy Birthday, Mun. I love you. I think of you a lot. I hope that you and my mom are having the best time on your day.
Til next time….
HBOGirl 
Thank you “cuz” for those lovely words about our grandmother, Marie Woodley, who I also called, “Muh” or Mun without the “n”. She is my greatest inspiration and the centerpiece of the book. She is the Sun and the Moon to me, and the inspiration for My book, The Permanent Light of Black. I love what she taught me about using my imagination to see beyond the hard times. And that imagination is the light that we never lost as Black folks. She would tell me, “That’s why we sing as good as we do, dance like we do, have a hard day at work and still laugh like we do.” Actually, I thaught we sang as well as we did, because she kept making us sing, before we sat down to eat. But that’s beside the point.
Thank you so much cousin! Yes, the memories of her will be with us forever. We are a singing family, so of course we sounded great. 🙂
I talk about her all of the time. I can’t really remember conversations that I had with her probably because I was so young, but I definitely remember the moments at her house. I felt her love always even with such a large family.