Those 70ish Girls

Photograph by Dianna Kenobbie Diehm

This is my favorite picture of the old country church

It didn’t look much better in it’s day.

It was a real good place for those who came to search

For their Higher Power and to pray

We sang Amazing Grace and It is well with my soul

In the Garden was my Grandma’s favorite hymn

We saw babies being baptized and had widows to console

But mostly I liked watching Grandpa Jim

When they passed the communion wafers he was whittling

Grandma elbowed him really good in his side

He threw his offering in with the wafers. It was piddling.

I think that second elbow hurt his pride

Those quarters in the wafer plate made a lot of noise

Grandpa didn’t get a wafer for his wine.

I know whittling on a stick is something he enjoys

Grandma thinks a knife in church is out of line

Once she took his stick away and he fell sound asleep

Soon everyone in church could hear him snore

The elbow in his side went in pretty deep

Grandpa yelled “Judas Priest!” and he was done for

You might think our bell and steeple are too large

or the church it sits on top of is too wide

Grandpa rings the bell now. He’s happily in charge

Because Grandma and her elbow stay inside