Day 24 Blog-off: Louise Abnee, A Generous Soul

Today’s Generous Soul is Louise Abnee. The image of Louise that is burned in my brain is a picture of her in her crimson red bridal saree. She’s stunning in it. She’s wearing a flower garland that looks like a lei on steroids and like any bride (well, many brides) she is beaming.

Inspired by my fellow Tuesday Sister, I imagine Louise 70 years from now, sitting in an armchair by the window waiting for her adult granddaughter to visit. On the end table next to her chair is a collection of holograms (because photographs 70 years from now will be all holograms, don’t you know). One of the holograms is of Louise and Mayank on their wedding day.

From across the street, the granddaughter gets out of car. She locks eyes with Louise. The rest of the post is written from the granddaughter’s point of view.

My Grandma had one story she would tell over and over again—the story of the girl and the starfish. A young girl is walking with her father along the beach. Hundreds of starfish have washed up on the shore. The girl picks up a starfish and throws it back into the ocean.

“Sweetie,” the father says. “Look how many starfish there are. Throwing one starfish back isn’t going to make any difference.”

“It made a difference to that one,” the little girl tells her father.

I loved this story. This was my grandma’s story. And when I would stay over at her house, she would tell me about the little girl and the beach full of starfish, sprinkling it with new details every time. Sometimes it was summer and the girl and her father were walking back to the house to make lemonade. Sometimes it was fall. Sometimes there was an adjunct anecdote about a dog and its footprints. But the tale always ended with the little girl telling her father, “It made a difference to that one.”

I walk up the stairs to the house and unlock the door. When Grandma sees me, she smiles with her whole face.

"Who did you save today?" she asks with a wink and a grin.

In case you haven’t been paying attention, the “Blog-off” is my way of giving during our Indiegogo fundraiser. I’ve pledged to write a blog post a day (minimum 100 words) for each day of the campaign. Then I decided to take it a step further and write a “Generous Soul” post for each friend or member of my family who donates to the cause. (“The cause” is publishing a collection of essays by our Write On, Mamas)