My grandma is very special.  She is more than a grandma:  she is my very best friend.  And she is raising me.

I lost my mama when I was a toddler; she died having my little brother, who is a year younger than me.  I hardly even remember her.  So grandma took her place, and now she's my Sugar-Mama.  I love her more than life itself!

Sugar-Mama (sometimes I spell it Suga-Mama) loves to take me and my brother, Ray-Ray, to the store.  There she buys us clothes and toys if we are good.  If we aren't good, she takes us to the van and tells us how disappointed she is in us.  She never yells, but the sad look on her face is enough to make us cry and feel ashamed.

If Ray-Ray and I are extra special good, Sugar-Mama buys us a malt drink or an ice cream treat at the ice cream parlor.  Those times are the best because we can get messy, and nobody ever says a thing.  Oh, Papa sometimes shakes his head, but he knows that there's no point in arguing with Sugar-Mama.  What she says goes, and what she decides is the golden rule.  She rules the roost, as far as the family is concerned:  she is the Supreme Boss.

Sugar-Mama loves to bake.  Most Saturdays her kitchen smells like a bakery:  cookies.  Cakes.  Kolaches.  Pies.  Quoissants.  Oh, boy, just thinkin' about her treats is making my mouth water!!

And you ought to smell the kitchen come Christmas time!  That's even better than Saturdays!!

Sugar-Mama loves to sing.  She sings to us all the old classic gospel tunes.  "Michael, Row The Boat Ashore".  "Kumbaya".  "Amazing Grace".  "There's Power In The Blood".  "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot".  "Precious Memories".  She also sings southern gospel.  She loves the songs by people or groups like Doug Oldham, the Blue Ridge Quartet, The Bible-Tones, The Happy Goodman Family, The Inspirations, and the McKameys.  To her those are just as good, if not better, than the classic standards.

She sings like an angel.  I swear God, Jesus, and all the people Up There are listening when she opens her mouth. 

She sings so good she ought to be on television, like on that show, "America's Got Talent".  I think she'd win! :)

In addition to singing, cooking, and spoiling us grandkids, Sugar-Mama loves to read (mainly the Bible), pray (every day), and teaching us about God and Heaven.  We don't need to have church, as long as Sugar-Mama is teaching us about the Golden Rule and why it is so important to say your prayers and listen to God.

I wish everyone could have a "Sugar-Mama" in their lives.  I have seen many friends of mine who are sad or having serious problems, and I personally think it's because they don't have a grandmother like mine.  Sugar-Mama makes the world that much nicer, and I wish that everyone could have a Sugar-Mama in their lives!