I think of them v2

For a minute today I think of them. 

My grandmother whom I lost at 10, 

I carry her in my name. 

My grandfather whom I lost at 25, 

him I carry in a million little ways

in a song on the radio that we both loved,

larger than life in my father's stories,

in a late night conversation with my husband,

every Jan and July 7,

his last birthday, celebrated with just 3 grandkids and his soon to he grand son in law.

My other grandfather, a shadowy figure at best,, but whom I carry in a handwritten prayer he wrote for me the eve of my wedding, that by some miracle I still had years later, that I learned to say at one of my lowest points, that I still give copies of to young ladies desperate like I was once, for a baby. 

And my grandmother, she whom I see in the contours of my mother's face, my daughter's and maybe one day, in mine,

whom I remember every special day, for she would be first to call and wish us, on my birthday, anniversaries, kids" birthdays, 

the beacon of wisdom,

whose passing is a gash in our lives so recent, we are still learning to live without her.  

I carry a little of bit of these giants inside me, don't I? 

And they live in my children though my kids know but one of them,

like an ancient tree whose seeds live on, they beat in our hearts, run in our blood.

Today i think of the four of them,

their courage, their stories of sorrow and joy,

like four river sources, they merge in me and branch out into smaller tributaries, unbroken through time, 

and I am in awe.