About Bigmama...

This is my grandmother, Jane Young.

She is affectionately known as Bigmama around our hometown.  She is a mother of 5 and grandmother of 14... She's even a great-grandmother!  She is a cancer survivor, a fierce believer in the Lord, and a strong woman all-around.  She is hysterical, sometimes when she doesn't mean to be.  Just mentioning Bigmama brings a grin to the faces of EVERYONE who knows her; each person can recall a time that Bigmama made them smile or laugh.  She is generous, but frugal.  She is kind, but honest.  She is beautiful and smart.  She is absolutely the foundation of our large extended family.  I feel so blessed to know her and to have her present in my life.

One of Bigmama's favorite places on Earth is the McDonalds in Sylvester, GA.  Yes, I'm serious.  This woman LOVES her McDonalds.  Specifically, she loves her McDonalds Diet Cokes.  If she passes McDonalds, she's going in to get a coke.  If you're passing McDonalds on the way to see her, you're stopping to get her a coke.  And no, you may not got through the drive-thru, because those Diet Cokes taste different and she can tell!  She often makes trips to town just to stop by McDonalds.  This doesn't even include the mornings she and Bigdaddy spend eating breakfast and "visiting" at McDonalds.  When Bigmama was going through chemo treatments, she often told her children and grandchildren that she couldn't wait to be well enough to get another Diet Coke from McDonalds.

During her battle with cancer in 2012.  She BEAT it!

Yesterday, Bigmama went into McDonalds, and was not greeted by anyone at the counter.  In fact, the young woman working the register ran to the back of the kitchen and she and her coworkers refused to wait on my grandmother.  As she repeatedly asked for someone to come take her order, these young men and women laughed at her and turned away.  When she left, without service, the McDonalds employees continued laughing, as one crudely imitated the way Bigmama walks with a cane.  They were, apparently, unaware that two of Bigmama's own grandchildren were in the restaurant witnessing this horrible behavior.

My family is obviously hurt, disappointed, and enraged by this incident.  I, for one, am shocked that anyone could treat another human being this way, much less an elderly person.  I will never understand how difficult it is for some people to feel empathy towards others.  If this is something you struggle with, here's a free tip from me: the next time you feel ill will towards someone, imagine if that person were your grandmother, your sibling, your father, your child, etc...  How would you want someone else to treat your Bigmama?

After hearing of this incident, one of Bigmama's daughters-in-law, Nicole, posted about her anger on Facebook.  Since then, the post has been shared over 370 times across the state (even in some other states) and has received hundreds of responses between the original post and all the shares.  Countless people in our family and community have reached out to the manager of this McDonalds, the owner of the franchise, and corporate offices... Some have even gone by the McDonalds to express their disappointment with the situation.

Seeing and hearing of the people rallying around our family has been incredibly heart-warming.  And seeing and hearing my family stand together and say, "We will not stand for this" has actually made me smile a few times between the tears today.  I'm so proud to be part of community that cares and part of a family that stands to defend one another when we can't defend ourselves.

My beautiful Momma looks just like her momma!

So, as usual, I'm going to try to focus on the positive here:

- It's clear we're not the only ones who love our Bigmama.  She has made such a positive impact on so many!
- It's great to be from a small town.
- People still do the right thing every once and while.  People still love and care for each other.
- A few hateful people won't steal our joy!

I'll leave you with my favorite quote (disclaimer: the author is widely debated):

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."  And I'll add: Be kind, for everyone you meet is someone else's Bigmama.

My favorite picture of the three of us... circa 1999?