My Most Favorite Person

In Memory of My Granny, Lavern Williamson

Before I was born, my name was supposed to be Lillian Bailey. My mom had a C-section and when she came out of recovery, my dad had already named me Bailey Lavern. Maybe it’s because I was her namesake or maybe it’s the bond every girl has with her grandmother, but my Granny was my most favorite person in the world.

A couple of years ago, Aunt Pam, Aunt Shirley, Granny and I went to Beaufort and Bluffton for the weekend to go shopping. Granny and Aunt Shirley argued the whole weekend over who was the boss, but neither of them could make a decision. Aunt Pam and I decided where we shopped, where we ate, everything.

Lavern and Shirley, an inseparable duo. If you told one of them something, the other was soon to find out. They told each other everything! You were always guaranteed a good time when these two were together.

When I was 13, Granny asked if I ever had a little girl if would I name her Lillian, after her momma. So when Thomas and I got married, I told him I loved him, but if we ever had a little girl, he had no say in her name. It would be Lillian, no matter what.

Speaking of Thomas and I getting married – Thomas asked my mom and dad permission to marry me, but what he should’ve done was ask my granny. She assigned all her rings to each granddaughter years ago, and, well the ring that was assigned to me looks identical to my engagement ring. She told Thomas all he had to do was ask and she would’ve given it to me early AND saved him a bunch of money.

I would always go see Granny and Papa once a week. Apparently there were 2 or 3 weeks in row when I went on a Monday and Granny started telling everyone, “Bailey comes and sees me every Monday!” I didn’t realize that was our weekly routine, but after she told everyone, I made a point to visit every Monday. I’m a school teacher and dismissal is at 2:30 and teachers have to stay until 3:00. Some days I wouldn’t make it there until 4:00 or 4:30 and I’d walk in the door and she was waiting in her chair, feet propped on her stool and she’d say, “I had already decided you weren’t coming today.” Y’all, no lie, I could’ve been there are 1:00 and her greeting would’ve been the same. She really looked forward to our Monday afternoons together and I did too!  

I especially loved seeing her with my children. Granny loved her grandchildren, but those great grands were another kind of special. I showed up at her house one afternoon by myself. She all but told me to leave. Literally! She looked at me and said, “You’re by yourself? Where’s Lillian?” I replied, “She’s not coming, I wanted to visit by myself today.” You would’ve thought she woke up on Christmas morning and there were no presents under the tree. I quickly assured her Thomas was on his way with Lillian and I knew better than to come without her.

If you knew Granny, you knew she loved her Pepsi. She’d hand you her little, white, Styrofoam cup and point to bottom line with her finger and say “go fix me a little Pepsi, not a lot, just a little bit.” She tried to share her love of Pepsi with all of her grands. I caught her sneaking Pepsi to Lillian when she was 8 months old!

I was over there in April, can you guess what day of the week it was? Yes, it was a Monday. Papa was out at “the lot” or “the glory hole” as granny referred to it and he hadn’t checked in in a while. We were trying to call him and he wasn’t answering the phone. Granny said alright Bailey, let’s ride out there and check on him. When we got there, of course everything was fine, he just couldn’t hear his phone ringing because the tractor was running. I called Thomas and told him to stop at the lot on the way home. We sat out there and visited and fed the fish until supper time. Thomas and I were hooking Lillian in her car seat when I turned around and saw Papa pull this little green stool out of the bed of the truck and place it on the ground for Granny to get in. We laughed so hard! But, in my mind I was thinking THAT is true love.

When I think of my Granny and Papa, I think of Alan Jackson’s song, “Livin’ on Love.” That’s what those two did for 62 ½ years! They made it through moves, long distance, natural disasters, sicknesses, surgeries, 3 children and even a house fire. No one is perfect and no marriage is perfect, but my granny and papa are proof that hard work, commitment and love withstand the test of time.  

Granny was kind hearted, honest and my most favorite person in this world. There are no words to explain how much I already miss her, but I find comfort in knowing that she is in Heaven rocking my sweet Porter and sneaking him Pepsi.