Both Grampie, on Mom's side, and Mimi, on Dad's side, had an incredible gift when it came to memory. I've heard them termed "photographic." Grampie could write a sermon, look at it once, and remember the entire, one-hour-long talk word for word, quotes and all. Mimi remembered everything; she was particularly knowledgeable about family history, current family happenings, sports, and...well...everything else in the world, from politics to religion to animated movies to "Who was on the Wheaties cereal box back in 1992?" Mimi would pause, put a hand at her chin, and say, "Oh, I dunno, Chris, probably the Dallas Cowboys?" Yes.
It was truly amazing. Whenever anyone in my extended family had a question that he/she couldn't answer, Mimi would always get a call. No matter on the subject; she always knew the answer. Of course, this was before the days of Google and such, and Mimi was a walking encyclopedia. My family didn't need internet searches. We called Mimi.
Well, later in life, Mimi lived in a nursing home, and they had an ultra-important, gently raucous, intense Trivia Night each week. Over time, the other residents clued in on Mimi's spectacular sponge mind, and her knack for facts, so they fought to have her on their team each week, because no matter what, if Mimi was on the team, the team won. In the home, people even started to get all riled up because of it. They thought she was cheating, and they couldn't believe how much she knew. When Mimi came to Trivia Night, there occurred mild fights involving gin, wine, walkers, and canes, and later, there was a full-on, candy-throwing uproar about whose team she would be on.
So this morning, my sister sent me a text reminding me of the time when one week at the nursing home, the residents, her buddies (who saved up bottles of wine from the cafeteria specifically for Trivia Night), decided to try and test Mimi by having a category called, "Current Musicians," and as Trivia Night progressed, no one knew any of the answers, so it started out rather dull, but when it came to be Mimi's turn, the question was, "What rapper's 1995 debut album Conspiracy debuted at Number Eight on the Billboard charts?" Mimi shouted out, "L'il Kim!" Everyone in the room was silent. Because...like always...she was absolutely right. Keep in mind that she was about ninety at the time, and she was blind in one eye, but she still read everything she could get her hands on, and she remembered every single fact.
She knew the answer to everything.
Lately, I've been thinking of Mimi a lot. On a grand, selfless scale, throughout her long life, she was one of my biggest supporters. I really feel her with me right now. She'd be proud of the way that I walked right through old trauma in the past two years, and she'd be proud of the new person I've become -- stronger and wiser, focused on a bigger picture, focused on my book to come. She'd be more than proud. She would lift me up. Actually, I think she's been with me in spirit this whole time, sending me answers from Heaven.
"Where there is love there is no darkness." (Right now, if Mimi were here, she would say, "I think I've heard that quote before. It's in the Bible. Paraphrased in John. But now that I think about it, it's also an old Burundian proverb.")
C.A. MacConnell
