In an era in which grandparents’ love is often measur…
In an era in which grandparents’ love is often measured by their generosity, it seems incredible to recall that my loving grandmother, known to all the grandchildren as “Mow-mow,” never presented me with a gift. On my birthday and at Christmas, I received gifts in pretty paper tied up with colorful ribbons, but none with a tag that read “From Mow-mow.” Even as a child, though, I never felt slighted, for my grandmother gave me so many other gifts that only as an adult did I realize that the usual kind of gift giving was not her custom. The first gift Mow-mow gave me was respect. She gave me respect of her full attention and never laughed at anything I said. With her I felt safe from ridicule and worthy of being taken seriously. Another gift was that of holding my speech to the highest standards. Her own grammar was impeccable, and even though I was a child, she expected mine to be also. Even the most innocuous slang, such as darn and gosh, was forbidden. I remember the battles we fought over these and other words I regarded as entirely harmless and over such issues as the proper pronunciation of the word forehead. I never won these battles. Mow-mow patiently heard me out but never surrendered. These discussions caused me to become sensitive to language and the effects of words. I learned that how something was said was as important as what was said. Slang words were not the only forbidden words in Mow-mow’s house. Can’t was an anathema to her. “The difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes a little longer” was a quote she had adopted as one of her favorite maxims. She read to me over and over the story of the “Little Engine that Could.” I can still hear the lilt in her voice as she repeated the words of the little engine making his way up the steep grade, “I think I can. I think I can.” Thus as a small child, I learned a great lesson: we are limited mostly by our own imaginations. Mow-mow showed me that what makes an occasion memorable is not elegant food or ornate decorations but the spirit of the people present. I have a vivid image of my grandmother happily carrying a large metal tray into her backyard where I was playing with other children from her neighborhood. On that tray were four tall glasses filled with cold milk and pieces of cornbread, still warm from the oven. Simple fare, indeed, but a party to be remembered forever because of the love of my grandmother and her desire to make our afternoon pleasurable. No, I do not recall a gift bearing a tag that said “From Mow-mow.” Her gifts, nonetheless, were many and priceless, and I will have them with me always. Which sentence best states the main idea of the passage?