Poor Baby

The greatest love story I have ever heard is the one of Jack and Jenny Weeks.  They were best friends from the 4th grade and were married 65 years.  I may be off a year or two, but that doesn’t matter.  Jack and Jenny are better known to me as Nany and Pop.  When Nany passed away last year, I didn’t think Pop was going to make it through the heartache.  The man completely surprised me though.  He did really well and I think it was because the woman he loved more than anything in this world was no longer suffering.   No matter what ever happens in this world, Nany and Pop are permanently in my heart. 

Pop is not doing so well at the moment and it is breaking my heart tonight.  He is a huge part of my life and I still have a hard time dealing with Nany being gone.  Honestly, some days it doesn’t even really feel like Nany is gone.  She still feels so close to me.  I wear her wedding ring every single day because I love that it is a symbol of a love that was so grand.

I am not sure if I ever shared this before, but there is a card that I keep on my dresser at home with a picture of a dog on it.  Nany sent it to me when I was living in San Francisco.  I think I was sick or something.  She wrote in it that the dog was there to watch over me and give me a “poor baby” any time I needed one.  “Poor baby” was her line.  Anytime I was sad, sick, lonely…whatever… all I had to do was call her and she would make it better by saying “poor baby”.  It always worked too. 

Pop caught on as well and emailed me some “poor baby coupons”.  Yes, he actually learned how to send emails after the age of 80.  Nany loved sending cards.  Pop loves sending emails.  It didn’t matter how my “poor baby” got to me, they were always there to provide them. 

Pop is getting a “poor baby” from me tonight.   It makes me smile saying that, because I know how silly and trivial that sounds to others.  For this family though, it’s just another way of saying, “I love you”.