Lynda had very good receptive language. If you told her to go to her room and get her blanket she could do that. She understood many things spoken to her. She just could not speak in more than a few words. However, she made very good use of the words she had. Some words had multiple meanings like "kitty kitty" was an four legged animal. If we passed a pasture full of cows, Lynda would say "kitty kitty" but she didn't do it for anything but an animal. She called me "Nana" which was what mama sounded like with her thumb in her mouth. She called Larry "Da Da". Now the really cool part of Lynda's language was that she combined her words for new meanings. We now teach children to do the same thing with picture symbol systems like PECS. Lynda said "Hot" in an appropriate way. She also said "Bye Bye" appropriately. On her own, she coined a name for Grandmother Anderson which was "Nana Hot" because she always cooked Lynda's favorite foods when she came to visit and she called Granddaddy Anderson "Da-Da Bye-Bye" because he took her for rides in the car, the wheelbarrow or anything else with wheels. She used the words consistently. In essence she created her own system of language for the limited number of words she had. She learned to say "Howdy" to Billy Reynolds who drove the Scott Center van each day but it was like her little brain could only hold in memory eight words or so and the last one in was the first one to go if a new one was added.
All this little white headed streak of lightening had to say was "Da-Da Bye-Bye" and she was being buckled into her car seat and off for a ride in the country to see all of the "kitty kittys". With her was her big twin size purple blanket and of course, her thumb that was always available. Daddy often called her "inda" because that was what one of the older women who babysat her called her. It just stuck with Daddy and he'd call to see how "inda" was doing. They would travel from Booneville to Brewton for Daddy to spend a few days and leave Mother to spend even more. That's when he learned to cook for himself. Mother wrote directions for how to cook beans and cornbread. Sometimes he'd call and ask directions for doing another dish. When cleaning up mother's house last summer I found the cards he kept with his "recipes", most of which were learned while he was keeping house in Booneville so mother could spend more time helping me in Brewton.
Daddy wrote me a letter many years before he passed away telling me how thankful he was that I had adopted Lynda because he felt she wouldn't have lived much longer if she had been placed in the Partlow State School. I cherish that letter and the memories I have of him with Lynda. Kevin and Kristopher came along and there was certainly room in his heart for two more grandchildren but Lynda was special and until she suffered a stroke at the age of 10 she was the only one who called him "Da-Da Bye-Bye"...a name he cherished.
When she arrived in Paradise, I know he said "Well, there's ole "inda" and I wish I could see the expressions on both of their faces. I know they don't have their new bodies yet but I know that in the bosom of Abraham each person knows who the people are because we have the example of Lazarus being asked by the rich man to bring him water.
I don't know if birthdays are celebrated in Paradise since everyday is a celebration but I do know that there are two people happy to see each other again and rest in the arms of Jesus together.
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