Grandma Runkle

A long time ago when I was visiting my grandma she shared this story: She was doing her homework in the kitchen, when one of her siblings walked in and commented that she was still working on her homework. So the sister called her stupid, which made my Great-Grandmother Burns really upset. As my Grandma Runkle was telling this story probably 70 years later tears can to her eyes, because it still hurt her so much. She said that she was the only one of her siblings that ever had to bring homework, and work on it. She wishes she'd had the chance to go to college, but even now thinks she couldn't do it. It just made me realize how much words can really hurt. This last week we went to see her again, and she shared this story: My Great-Aunts, who were sisters of my Great-Grandmother Runkle, came up for a visit. So my grandfather wanted to show off his bride to his aunts, since they'd never met before. As they walked across the road one of the aunts spotted my grandma and said, "Look it's a redhead." They then started laughing, all of them including my great-grandmother, my grandma told us that it hurt her so much to have them laughing because of her hair color. I could tell it still hurt, but maybe not as much as the first story...it just surprised me how much words could hurt. I mean I know they hurt, but to truly see how much they still hurt after all these years, was shocking. I guess we should really be carefully what we say to those we love...and everyone else.