NANA G SMITH

AmazBella Story; Part One:

I was flying in the clouds with happiness and anticipation of kids arriving soon. My older son got married in February, and soon, I am to be a grandmother. We had great plans coming in our direction. First, moving to San Francisco – the city of my dreams! secondly and most importantly, I was excited to help the newly formed family with kids, overseeing the nannies, helping with everyday chores, and just being a grandmother. All I wanted for many years was to be a grandmother, and here my oldest son, my pride, whose biggest wish always was to have a family and kids, had achieved his dream. My fear for many years was that he would not be able to have a family or kids, but as years passed, things started changing fast, and here I was a few months away from being a grandmother.

This spring before moving to San Francisco, we decided to visit my home country, Georgia. On our way, we stopped in Kyiv for a few days. While in Kiev, we visited Lavra. One does not need to believe in God, or one can believe in any god… does not matter. It is not hard to realize that Lavra is a special place, a divine vibe in every inch of those amazing grounds. This high-power atmosphere of Lavra could be felt from the very first moment one enters the grounds, an extraordinary experience.

While exploring Lavra, I noticed a woman selling silver spoons near the church. I started looking through spoons and astonishingly, one spoon bore the name “Luka,” my grandson’s name, engraved in gold over silver. Further searching revealed another spoon with my granddaughter’s name, Emilia, delicately engraved. It felt like a divine sign, like a sign for me only from above… and without hesitation, I purchased these special spoons. In Georgian tradition, it is believed that babies should only eat from silver spoons.

Time passed, spring left, summer arrived, and the moment to move to San Francisco came. While driving across the county, I received a text message from my son, informing me that they had found their dream home in Palo Alto and would be moving out of San Francisco in two days. I asked, but what about me? How will I be able to help?

We arrived in San Francisco on a windy and cold, gray day. In a day or two, my son brought us a bag with the stuff. Stuff everyone has at home. Stuff, which is okay but has no usage, no meaning, no nothing, except that it is not old or broken to throw it away. For instance, the bag had kits first-class passengers get over and over. Many of those kits. Among the stuff, I noticed something shiny. Here were my magic spoons bought in Lavra for the soon-to-arrive grandkids.

My son said, “I do not know what is in the bag… Robert packed it.”

As we were leaving San Francisco in three years in a rush, I left so many things behind. No, I left almost everything behind, but I brought here to San Miguel de Allende a little silver spoon with my grandson’s name engraved on it bought in Lavra for my soon-to-arrive grandson.

I use it every day. My grandson is 4 and a half years old now.