my grandmother

as the sun slowly set behind the big blue mountains ,it painted the sky into a heavenly motif with all the hues of the rainbow.i sat on the porch of my house overlooking my two car garage as my daughter ,Milan and her friends ran circles around the cars,their childish laughter filling the quiet evenig with joyous sounds and cheerful fervor.a wry smile appeared on my face as i rememeber my days of running around and the anxiety i gave my grandmother in those days.then my thoughts shifted to my grandmother who died several years and i thought to myself ,as the sun crest behind the mountains and the birds choraled as if heralding a the end of the day , i hoped i made her proud .For all that i gain in life and all the values i can now pass on to my childern ,nothing in my life would be possivble today if not for the positive values my 'mammy' instiled in me at a young age. my grandmother raised my siblings and I in a two bedroom house ,nestled at the bottom of my hilly village just on the outskirts of the city. I was the second of seven children,four boys and two girls ,so i was always lost in the crowd.our house was quint but well structured,on hot days the sun heated up the galvanised roof so the cold nights was warm ,and when the rain fell the house was cool.my grandmother was the sole breadwinner in our household,she worked twelve hour days and then came home and worked four hours more .despite her small salary she tried her best to provide us with the basics ,and always reminded us that every ounce of her blood sweat and tears was so that we would never have to work as hard as she did. one day as we gatgerd around the table for our second meal of the day ,and we chatted loudly and played footsie , i recalled stealing a sandwich from my sisters plate and before i could take one bite ii felt the stinging sensation of a cold pot spoon on my back, i screamed in pain and rusehed of to bed in fear of a few more hurried blows.As i lay on my tatterd mattress