Our Gardener, Michael, lives with his grandparents in a small house at the bottom of a hill near the Embassy.\u00a0 The other day, a power surge took out Grandmother\u2019s TV, which disrupted her life immeasurably.\u00a0 She likes to watch the soaps on TV.\u00a0 She was going to go down to the power company and chew their butts out for blowing her TV.<\/p>\n
When Terese found out, being the loving and gracious person she is, she suggested to me the idea of giving her the old TV we picked up in Russia.\u00a0 Sounded good.\u00a0 So, the other day, I took Michael, the TV and his bicycle to his grandparents house.\u00a0 Terese didn\u2019t go, because she had a bad head cold and didn\u2019t want to risk getting them sick.\u00a0 I met his grandfather on the porch as I entered.\u00a0 He\u2019s 84 years old, but looks like a hundred and ten; sporting a lot of teeth, but few in front.\u00a0 I clasp his hand gently and he clasped mine firmly.\u00a0 All four hands combined into one.\u00a0 For an old man, he had a warm, solid, muscular grip.\u00a0 He started bowing and I started bowing and before I knew it, we both were bouncing up and down.\u00a0 His dark eyes squinted as he continually smiled.<\/p>\n
I entered the house and met his grandmother, whose hands I also gently clasped.\u00a0 She bowed as well as did I.\u00a0 She motioned for me to sit in what I felt was the choicest seat in the house, then using Michael as a translator, she offered me something to eat as if there was plenty of food in the house.\u00a0 I very graciously declined.\u00a0 She had her dark eyes as well, but she did little smiling.\u00a0 When Michael told her the TV was hers, she became most appreciative, holding my hand and bowing again, this time with moist eyes.<\/p>\n
The house was small with rough wooden floors.\u00a0 A cloth covered the doorway into the next room.\u00a0 The walls were bare except for a few religious icons adorned with flowers.\u00a0 Michael set the TV up, and I secretly hoped it still worked.\u00a0 I hated to go through all this just to have it not work.\u00a0 He hooked the rabbit ears up and all he got was static.\u00a0 I thought, uh-oh.\u00a0 Then Johan, a little kid about 10-12 years old, picked up the remote and within 30 seconds had the TV programming itself.\u00a0 Where do these kids learn this stuff?\u00a0 When he got through, the TV was picking up all 3 channels.<\/p>\n
When I left, we did all the clasping and bowing again.\u00a0 I climbed into my 4 wheel drive and climbed the rocking path back to the nearest road.\u00a0 A few days later, Michael told Terese that Grandfather was happy because Grandmother was happy.\u00a0 Grandmother was happy because someone who did not know her, gave her such a valuable gift.<\/p>\n
Sometimes I forget my value in this world and how fortunate I am.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Our Gardener, Michael, lives with his grandparents in a small house at the bottom of a hill near the Embassy.\u00a0 …<\/p>\n