LaDor Farm

One of my favorite things to do has always been come to my Grandpa and Grandma Dudley’s beautiful farm, LaDor,  in Gordonsville, Virginia.  Where I grew up in Atlanta, it was a ten-hour drive.  I could sleep the whole way, not even waking up for meals.  My mom and dad would just leave me in the van sleeping (different world).  I love the sound when we made the turn onto the winding driveway, from the pavement to the bumpy gravel.  LaDor farm we are here!!  There is no place more beautiful.  There are hundreds of trees, cows in the pasture, sometimes a horse or two, a place house where many hours were spent.   It is so calm and peaceful.   It is one of the places I have learned, over the last 37 years, what love and kindness are.  

 My grandma, Doris Dudley, genuinely loves people.  She has a great loyalty to all her family She worries about them, prays for them and supports them through whatever life brings.  I have watched my grandma go through some difficult things, things I can’t imagine living through.  She has done it with great faith, even at times when she doesn’t feel like she can survive another day.  My grandma is LOVE to me.  She tells me often, “Heavenly Father doesn’t take all our trials away, but helps us be able to endure them!”   She is a great example to me.  She is one of my heroes.  I love my Grandma!

My grandpa, LaMont Dudley,  is kindness to me.  He will never say an unkind word about anyone.  He leaves people better than he finds them, just because of who he is.  I had many tender experiences this week with him, helping him write his history.  Tonight, he said to me,  “These days have been so special to me.  This is a time in my life I will never forget.  I couldn’t have picked a better granddaughter, you are such a joy to me.”  As he was looking at pictures of the kids, “Parker is almost as tall as you.”  me- It doesn’t take too much grandpa.  “You’re not too short.  You’re petite.  You’re beautiful.  You are perfect the way you are.”  Today, I sat next to him in church.  We sang, ‘We Thank Thee Oh God For a Prophet,’ (one of his favorite songs).  I love listening to his deep southern accent as he sings the words, ‘When dark clouds of trouble hang ore us and threaten our peace to destroy, there is hope shining brightly before us, and we know that deliverance is nigh.  We doubt not the Lord nor His Goodness, we’ve proved Him in days that are past.’  I look in his kind and gentle eyes and feel his big hand holding mine.  I feel incredible peace and love.  I pray to never forget this feeling, this moment. 

My grandpa goes most mornings to help in the Laundromat, he started years ago.  I went one day and sat with him in his office and asked lots of questions.  He would tell me, I should have been a reporter and he doesn’t remember anything.  Then we would just talk.  He told me story after story.  Repeating over and over, "the Lord has been so good to me.  I couldn't have asked for more."  He just cried as he told me some of his tender memories.  What an honor it is to have this grandpa forever!!