She was every child's dream of a grandparent. Going to her house was like entering a bakery, tables were heavily laden with the most delectable treats. Somehow with four grandchildren she kept a mental list of everyone's favorite candy, pie, cake, etc., and had plenty for us all. Never ever did she raise her voice at any of us, and I wholly believe that she was completely convinced that we were 100% perfect.
She had these crazy paranoia's that made us all laugh. (unfortunately, I inherited this slightly negative quality myself) She was convinced throwing salt over her shoulder would bring her good luck, and if you told her something was dangerous, she would worry about it incessantly. (did I mention I have this tendency myself?) Her house always had the aroma of fresh baked goods and moth balls. In fact, anything she ever sent us over the years smelled of moth balls. I have my own theory about this. I'm sure someone once told her that moth balls ward off rodents, and she came to the conclusion that she needed to by out the store's worth of supply, to insure she never had rodents.
My very favorite thing about my Granny, was her amazing sense of humor. She could laugh at herself all the time. She had this terrific way of mothering and grandmothering, she handled everything life threw at her with a great sense of humor. Fortunately, for me, my dad, inherited this quality from her. I try to handle my own three boys with this philosophy in mind. Whenever they do something particularly dumb (which is hourly with my crew), I TRY to laugh at what I can, clean up the mess, and move on. I generally grin to myself, and think, "These boys of mine, owe you one, Granny." Sometimes I think if I try hard enough, I can still hear her laughing in the recesses of my memories.
Thanksgiving was her holiday. She spared no expense to make sure that all of her kids and grandkids were with her every year to celebrate. This will be our first year without her. And I miss her. I'm going to try valiantly to recreate her delicious goodies for my children this year, but somehow nothing is going to taste the same. Black Friday will not be as fun without her to go shopping with. I might as well face it, I'm just going to be missing her.
She was one of the most amazing people I had the privilege of knowing, and the best part was, she was mine. She was with me the moment I breathed my first breath. It seemed only fitting that I stayed with her when she breathed her last.
Until we meet again, Granny, I'll be missing you...
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