My Grammy was never afraid to give advice among her pearls of wisdom was, “Take care of each other“ and she lived it, as a wife, as a mother, as a grandmother, and great-grandmother, she took care of us and in doing so showed us how to take care of each other.
Grammy lived her childhood amidst the poverty of the Great Depression. Yet, she recalled memories of these days with a thankful heart. She was thankful that her family had a farm, because that meant there was food. She was thankful she slept in the middle of the bed between her two sisters, that meant she was warm. She was thankful to have finished high school, recalling the sacrifice her older sisters made for the family by working at an early age after their father died. But that is what families did, they took care of each other. I’ll never be able to know all she overcame during those years, but I do know she learned some lessons to pass on to us.
The biggest impression Grammy has left on me is in her devotion to my Pop, and it is rivaled only by his devotion to her. A more loving couple you will never find, search if you will, my Gram and Pop chose to love each other through it all. Since the beginning of their marriage, they’ve been taking care of each other. They sacrificed by working alternate shifts so my uncle and dad had parents at home. When Pop suffered his first of many heart attacks Grammy adjusted the menu and cared for him—the rest of us recall that as the “no salt era”. In Grammy’s illness, Pop has cared for her, loved her in such huge ways. My grandparents’ marriage has taught me so much—about how daily love is, how to persevere, how to take care of each other.
Grammy had a zealous kind of love. You know she loved in what she did for you, cooked for you, and sent to you. Grammy would do anything for us kids, I mean anything. I remember, after getting my Polaroid camera, asking her to “pose” for me. We took all the plastic fruit from her counter outside and I made her pose with apple under the tree. I even went as far as to ask her to get up in the tree, she did it. She was that kind of Grammy, the kind of Grammy who played with you. She entered our world when we would play. She knew Pigs in a Blanket were my favorite dinner, so it was always there waiting upon our arrival. My favorite memories are of cooking with her, her showing me how to roll the pig up like diapering a baby. I love the times we’d go visit Aunt Kay together and talk about all the different things you could do with a zucchini. She also used to send me stuff, that made me always know she was thinking of me, whether it was cotton for my nail polish remover, recipes, coupons, or articles from the paper. I especially looked forward to her letters when I studied abroad, a great comfort when far from home and she was my most faithful penpal. And Each and every birthday you could count on a phone call from her and Pop singing in unison. She was always thinking of ways to “take care of us.”
In the past years, I’ve missed being able to call her for advice on cooking, gardening, and cleaning—did you know how many uses there are for baking soda? She did. She also can bake the perfect chocolate chip cookie, cook the perfect pot of chicken soup, and I am convinced that they taste so good because of her secret ingredient: love, her love. So no one else’s will ever quite be the same.
More than once I’ve been told I am like Grammy. My dad once said I was here to replace her. I don’t know about that but I felt a connection to her like I have had to no other person. There are just some things I think we understood about each other. We never spoke them, but they were always there.
My Grammy is feisty—“she’d give you one of these”, strong willed, frugal, spiritual, nurturing, loving,-- If anyone says, “You are just like Grammy” you know that’s a compliment.
When we would visit I got to sleep with Grammy. There is nothing better than laying in bed next to Grammy and saying your prayers, it’s the safest most comfortable place, all is right in the world hearing her say, “Good night, God Bless, tootaloo!” Which I do say to my kids, they smile and think I am silly, but it affords me the opportunity to share with them my memories of a very special Grammy.
And we when we clean with baking soda, or make a batch of pigs, or dance around the kitchen, or sing a little ditty, or work in the garden we will smile and think of her.And now our Grammy is home, we are left with her words to us, “Take care of each other.” That’s what she wants us to do.
Polish Blessing: "Zit-cheh toe-byeh styen-chah, zdrove-yeh, doe-breh poe-vode. Zen-yeh, a poe schmer-chee nyeh-byess-kee kore-oh-knee." I wish you luck, health, and prosperity, and afterward a crown in heaven."
