in my 20+ years as a reading professional, i have collected thousands of stories, some stored only in my head and some stored in notebooks and folders scattered in with my belongings: stories that i have xeroxed from books, quotes, poems, etc. just stuff that i like in general.
this week i have been collecting other types of stories. you see, my grandmother passed away last week and my sisters and i have been emailing back and forth with our memories of her. as part of the healing process of losing her, i have been sharing these stories with my friends, and i thought this might be a good place to share with the rest of the world what a funny, fantastic woman my gram was. here are some stories from my sisters:
(1) "listening to the children's bible hour on the radio before going to sleep at her house."
(2) "sending her letters as a kid with as many x's and o's as i could fit on the page."
(3) "how she always recruited me to wash our windows when she visited." (i lived near grandma when i was in college, and every time i went over there she asked me to wash her patio windows.)
(4) "the book she kept in her kitchen that, in my opinion, summarized her philosophy on life: title was 'God and Vitamins' (served her well, i think)."
(5) she asked me about boyfriends a lot, and one time when i told her i wasn't interested in the boys at my school she asked, "but didn't you come here to get married?"
(6) "she tried to comb out my dreadlocks."
(7) "she always kicked my ass at pool (she had a slow but steady shot)."
(8) "the way she would laugh at dad's jokes, which no one else in the family laughed at (i loved how her eyes lit up and if it was funny enough she would start tearing up)."
(9) "how she wouldn't let me leave her apartment without taking at least 3 items of food home with me (usually half-finished boxes of crackers or something)."
(10) "her falling asleep in church and then waking up suddenly and pretending it never happened."
(11) she invited my sister alayna and her friend over for a homecooked meal one time and served instant mashed potatoes.
(12) every time we said goodbye she would give me a kiss on the cheek and a pat on the butt and say, "i love you." i was always embarassed about it then, but who else would ever pat my butt in such a loving way?
we'll miss you gram.
3 comments:
Ok, here are a few more:
Watching the Lawrence Welk show at her house. She was a big fan.
She always wanted us to mix different breakfast cereals together. No eating just one type - you had to put at least two brands in your bowl.
Stopping by for a visit in college and Grandma insisted (every time) that we take naps in the chairs in the den.
Sorry about your grandma. She sounds awesome. Especially the breakfast cereal part.
my sympathy.
I remember visiting your grandma with AD our freshmen year. She had such cool things in her place and gave us tasty chocolate chip cookies. I'm glad you could all be together in GR and go to the funeral.
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