I'll Call It Like I See It

by sheila morris

Category: Humor

  • Mexican food means family to Ella

    Mexican food means family to Ella


    Queso dip smeared by three year old Ella over the table top in our booth as she tried to helpfully clean the double digit droplets of white cheese on the space in front of her, bright red contents of one small salsa bowl completely dumped on the table by 14 month old Molly when she reached for water on the table from her booster seat pulled next to us – these were two of our more spectacular messes during one meal at our favorite Mexican restaurant this week. Eating out any meal with our granddaughters and their parents is always an adventure, but regular visits to Mexican restaurants bring their own special perils that require oversized tipping to our wait staff when we leave.

    Pretty, Drew and I took too long to finish our food to suit Ella this week, and she slipped out of the booth under the table to speed everyone along by standing next to Molly’s booster chair, feeding mushy refried beans on a fork to Molly who was overjoyed at the attention from her Big Sis as well as the attention from smiling waitresses that squeezed past the girls in the narrow aisle between booths. I was so focused on the precarious food delivery via fork from Ella to Molly I didn’t notice the middle-aged couple sipping margaritas minding their own business in the booth across the aisle from us until I heard Ella’s quiet attempt to be polite.

    “We’re a family,” she spoke to the surprised couple that turned toward her little girl voice. “This is my Naynay, that’s my Nana, he’s my daddy, and this is my baby sister Molly. My name is Ella.” She pointed to each of us as she introduced us with the names she knew, finishing by identifying herself. Drew and Pretty were talking about the Final Four, the restaurant was slammed, noisy, so I was the only member of Ella’s family that heard her announcement. I gave Ella a little hug, smiled at the couple who were the intended audience of her unsolicited conversation. The woman smiled briefly but then returned to her margarita.

    Molly wasn’t happy with this interruption in her food supply chain so she grabbed Ella’s hair and pulled it as hard as she could which prompted shrieks from Ella and quick action from Drew who lifted Molly from the booster while freeing Ella’s hair at the same time. Daddy to the rescue. Nana slid from the booth to help take the commotion outside.

    Dinner was over. Naynay asked for the check.

    Ella (l.) and Molly have queso in their DNA

    I tried to describe the incident to Pretty on the way home in the grannymobile that night – the joy I felt when I heard Ella’s understanding of what family meant to her, the confidence our little granddaughter had to share her family with others even though their response had been less than encouraging. It was a memory maker for me.

    Pretty agreed, smiled and asked how much I had tipped the waitress.

  • you old storyteller, you

    you old storyteller, you


    Ann Richards. Barbara Jordan. Stacey Abrams. Molly Ivins. Betha Day Morris. Ann, Barbara, Stacey, Molly and Betha shared a common gift, storytelling, honed from their various Texas influences. I call them the OGs of storytellers I would be happy to sit and listen to for hours on this rainy South Carolina day. Thanks to the magic of YouTube, I can still hear former Texas Governor Ann Richards, former US Representative Barbara Jordan, journalist and author Molly Ivins, political guru Stacey Abrams – the women we can celebrate during women’s history month for amazing achievements in their respective arenas.

    Betha Day Morris wasn’t captured on YouTube videos, or sadly, any videos of her storytelling, but while the more famous others inspired me as an adult, my paternal grandmother was my greatest personal Star Storyteller. I paid homage to her in the preface of my first book Deep in the Heart: A Memoir of Love and Longing.

    My roots are showing today – no, not those roots – my Texas roots which I never really outgrew. On my first visit to Texas from my new home in Seattle in 1968 where I had been for a grand total of three months out of my wise twenty-two years of life spent growing up in Texas, my daddy and I were quail hunting in a field in Fort Bend County when I began pontificating about the majesty, the grandeur of the Cascade Mountains of the Pacific Northwest. I had surveyed the lowcountry field of the southeastern coastal area as we followed Daddy’s hunting dogs Dab and Seth, making a remark something to the effect that the fields we were walking had to be some of the flattest lands God ever created. Nothing to see for miles except tall tan grass, why would anyone stay in Texas if they had the chance to move, even the quail might leave if they could. I went on and on. Dab and Seth ran with abandon but without purpose.

    My daddy who was a documented fourth generation son of the Republic of Texas stopped, turned to look back at his daughter he adored and said, “Sheila Rae, you can take the girl out of Texas, but you’ll never take Texas out of the girl.” He was, of course, right.

    I haven’t attempted to rival my grandmother’s stories, but I do have cousins who tell me I remind them of her. I consider that the highest compliment of my work. Stories and humor were the cornerstones of Betha’s life, and they became the bridges in mine.

    ************************

    Slava Ukraini. For the women.

  • everything, everywhere all at once – Cardinal style

    everything, everywhere all at once – Cardinal style


    the two OG cats post Carport Kitty

    neighbor cat visits regularly

    Charly getting white hair, too – but still always at my side

    Carl’s life is as blurry as this picture with loss of hearing, vision –

    but his smell for treats as healthy as ever

    loyal old man Spike at his guard post: no retreat, no surrender

    photo by mother Caroline

    our granddaughters three year old Ella holds year old Molly

    Okay, so I shamelessly stole the 2023 Oscar winner title for this little Monday morning personal multiverse that Pretty and I inhabit every day. Mea culpa. Enjoy – no goggles required.

    Thankfully, all quiet on the Cardinal front today.

    Stay tuned.

    *************************

    Slava Ukraini. Lest we forget the war rages on.

  • a letter to our granddaughters about love

    a letter to our granddaughters about love


    Dear Ella and Molly,

    Once upon a time before you were born, before your daddy had even met your mommy, before your Nana and Naynay were your grandmothers, your two Nanas went on a magical first vacation to a land far, far away in a place called Mexico.

    They packed their suitcases early one Friday morning, then drove to the airport and got on a very big airplane to fly high in the sky. While they were in the airplane, Nana asked Naynay are we there yet? several times because she did not like to fly in the airplane. Naynay would laugh and say not yet.

    Finally the airplane landed in Cancun, Mexico. Your Nana was so happy to be on the ground again, but your Naynay was very nervous about making sure they could find their luggage and a car ride to the hotel.

    They found their suitcases and got in a taxi that drove them to the most beautiful hotel, a tall white building with more floors than the hotel where Ella stayed with us when we went to the basketball game. Their room had blue tiles and a balcony where they could stand to see the people on the beach, the blue ocean, and the big blue swimming pool down below. Everything was blue except for your Nanas who were very happy to be on their first ever vacation together.

    The food was delicious in Mexico – every restaurant had salsa, chips, cheese dips and quesadillas better than the ones at places we go to here at home. The swimming pool at the hotel had water that was not too cold for swimming even in the winter; the beach was great for walking at night because the moonlight was so bright the sandy beach looked like a huge version of Ella’s sandbox in the back yard. It was fun to walk around holding hands at night after the hot sun had set.

    When you are older, we will tell you more stories about that magical first trip to Mexico when Nana and Naynay began to realize how much they loved each other. Your Nanas have taken many trips together since that first one, but you will see that sometimes the first time you experience deep feelings of love for someone can be the moments you never forget. For now you need to know we love you both more than you can imagine, and our vacations with you in the mountains and at the playground in Florida have been magical, too.

    We wish you joy and happiness wherever life leads, but most of all we wish you love,

    Naynay

    **********************

    Happy 22nd Anniversary, Nana. You still bring the spicy salsa to me every day, and I love you dearly.

  • cool at the zoo


    Collins is in town and wants to go to the zoo, I texted Pretty yesterday afternoon; they’ve invited us to bring Ella and Molly to go with them. Collins is the five year old granddaughter of our good friends Francie and Nekki – Collins lives in Charleston but she and Ella went to the zoo together in the days before Molly was born so they weren’t strangers.

    Do you think it’s too cold to take the girls to the zoo? Pretty texted back. Of course, we think any temperature below 60 degrees is freezing. I know, I know. Ask the people who live in other parts of the country about cold – they will laugh at us. Ella is our three year old granddaughter, Molly just turned one year old last week, and we’re worried about a sunny mid afternoon with temps in the 50s.

    It’s a sunshiny day, I said, we’ll keep them warm. To the zoo we went.

    Collins (left) and Ella in zoo’s fun photo booth

    Francie and I crashed photo booth party –

    think the little girls had more fun without us

    we did see a tiger in between photo booth, carousel, playground…

    and souvenir shop

    Nana Pretty with grands watching the tiger –

    Molly taken with big striped cat, Ella studying caves

    Molly kept warm in stroller – had big time watching, absorbing new sights and sounds

    put me down, Naynay – I’d rather walk

    (won’t let he who shall remain nameless take my red hat away from me)

    thanks to Nekki for this last screenshot with Pretty, me and the kids

    this is how we roll with them now that Molly is walking, too

    Ella lives in her own world – we are privileged to share it when it suits her.

    Pretty sent this text to Francie and Nekki last night after we dropped Ella and Molly at home with their parents: “We had such a good time this afternoon. So funny to me that we now have our grandchildren playing together…”

    Next week Pretty and I have our 22nd. Anniversary; these two friends have been with us from the beginning. I know for sure I never dreamed of having these awesome little girls in a million years, but I have celebrated family in new ways with Pretty who brings the fun with her sense of humor that still makes me – and now our granddaughters – laugh.

    President John F. Kennedy said children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see. I love that idea and ask for wisdom to do my part in supporting these little girls with the same love, kindness, understanding and patience my grandmothers gave to me in a time long ago and far away but never forgotten.

    ***************

    Slava Ukraini. For the children.