Mama Will Be 80

Laura Jane Pendergraft,
(AKA Jane, Mama, Aunt Jane,
Grandma Graft,
Grambo, and G.G) with
her newest great-grandchild Axl Yount.
She was born in Albemarle, NC
on October 17, 1933.

Mama will be 80 in the morning,
far from her Stanly County birthplace,
but its traces still remain within her voice
and fondest memories. We've still got
kinfolk there, but no one who remembers
1933 or held her as a baby, heard her cries,
or watched her take first steps. And now she
is unsteady once again, but not from lack
of practice. She gets around with help,
still plays piano beautifully but frets each
time she signs her name, the loops and slants
so changed from years ago. She's buried
parents, son, a grandson, sister, niece and nephew
and the time until she joins them is, she knows,
a little closer every day, as it is with all of us
but more acutely felt by those who've lived
as long as she.Active, but with medical restraint,
she still has things she wants to see accomplished, still has dreams that fill her mind each night as quietly and patiently
she lies awake and waits for sleep to come.



(c) Ellen Gillette, 2013