Saltines with butter and sweet tea
Nov. 30th, 2011 07:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunchofgrapesThis is it, the last day of November. That means I've completed a month of blogging. Some of it has been nothing but filler, some of it has taken actual thought. Tonight I'll end with something that takes some actual thought.
In my Thanksgiving post I mentioned that I was thankful for all the people who touched my life as I was growing up, especially my granny. I've been wanting to do a post about her but I knew it would be long so I saved it for last.
I'm not sure how old I was when I started going to "Granny" but I was little so maybe three or four. Her real name was Bertha Shook and she was my babysitter for several years but she was Granny to me and I can still remember how upset I was when my mom told me she wasn't related to me. As I recall, my parents found Granny through the Baptist church they went to at the time. Granny volunteered at the nursery and when my parents asked about child care, she came highly recommended.
Granny was the kindest, sweetest, most loving person I've ever known. She was easily more like my grandmother than any of my actual grandmothers and I know I loved her more (my grandmothers were scary). I also know she loved me very much. I don't know a lot about her except that she was probably in her late 60's\early 70's when I started staying with her. She had two daughters, Dell and June, and three grandkids, Ronnie, Lynn and Renee. Renee wasn't a whole lot older than me - maybe six years - so I recall hanging out with her a lot. I'm sure she loved having a little kid always tagging along but we played barbies and games and I don't ever remember her being mean to me. For most of what I remember Granny and June lived in a duplex with a big front porch so even though I was staying with Granny, I spent just as much time at June's. The sound of a wooden screen door always reminds me of Granny and June.
I spent a good chunk of my childhood with these people and felt so much closer to Granny's family than I did my own. No wonder I thought she was related. Dell had a boyfriend, Bob, and I can still picture him with his flat top haircut and his convertible Thunderbird. He used to call me Snoopy and I called him Red Baron. He was a very cool guy. Dell was interesting too. I'm not sure how old she was but she was older and "looser" than June. She was a carhop at Pennington's Drive In, a fairly famous eating establishment in the 60's and 70's. She had blonde hair that she wore in a beehive, was slim and trim (always wore stretch pants) and chewed gum alot. I remember her son, Ronnie, lived near the speedway and it was cool when we went to visit him because you could hear the cars racing around.
Some of my best (and not so best) memories were spending my summers at Granny's. I remember getting my head stuck in the back window of her car (the window only rolled down so far), watching I Love Lucy reruns and driving everyone crazy with my ability to constantly quote from the episodes. I remember June had a puppy that got stung by a bee and died. I remember that black fingernail that fell off. I remember walking to the corner store with Renee and buying candy that we ate on the way back home. I remember celebrating the New Year by banging pots and pans and a piece of the metal flew into my eye and I screamed bloody murder. I remember the red metal step chair that I always sat in so I could be high enough to eat at the table. I remember the hard wood floors and the rocking chair in the living room by the window and watching Lawrence Welk and Hee Haw because those were Granny's favorite shows. I remember saltines with butter and sweet tea.
Granny always had a chihuahua named Tippy. I think she had a couple of different ones but they were always named Tippy. And both of them were extremely protective of Granny. I still can't see a chihuahua without immediately thinking about Granny. The last time I visited her, sometime after I got my driver's license, we sat on her sofa, Tippy on her lap, and drank sweet tea and ate saltines with butter and watched Lawrence Welk. I knew then that Granny's health was probably failing her. We'd just learned about arteriosclerosis in school and when I saw her ankles, I recognized it as a symptom. That visit was the last time I saw my Granny. She passed away during my freshman year in college.
My mom never told me that Granny passed away. I found out when I came home one weekend and when she told me, I remember being so incredibly angry at her for not telling me sooner (she passed away months before my mother told me) and so unbelievably upset that my Granny was gone. I still have a picture of her. A really good one taken in her best Sunday dress.
I never saw Dell or June or Renee after Granny passed away. I got a Christmas card from Renee a few years later (she'd gotten married and I think had a baby) but we eventually lost touch.
In my Thanksgiving post I mentioned that I was thankful for all the people who touched my life as I was growing up, especially my granny. I've been wanting to do a post about her but I knew it would be long so I saved it for last.
I'm not sure how old I was when I started going to "Granny" but I was little so maybe three or four. Her real name was Bertha Shook and she was my babysitter for several years but she was Granny to me and I can still remember how upset I was when my mom told me she wasn't related to me. As I recall, my parents found Granny through the Baptist church they went to at the time. Granny volunteered at the nursery and when my parents asked about child care, she came highly recommended.
Granny was the kindest, sweetest, most loving person I've ever known. She was easily more like my grandmother than any of my actual grandmothers and I know I loved her more (my grandmothers were scary). I also know she loved me very much. I don't know a lot about her except that she was probably in her late 60's\early 70's when I started staying with her. She had two daughters, Dell and June, and three grandkids, Ronnie, Lynn and Renee. Renee wasn't a whole lot older than me - maybe six years - so I recall hanging out with her a lot. I'm sure she loved having a little kid always tagging along but we played barbies and games and I don't ever remember her being mean to me. For most of what I remember Granny and June lived in a duplex with a big front porch so even though I was staying with Granny, I spent just as much time at June's. The sound of a wooden screen door always reminds me of Granny and June.
I spent a good chunk of my childhood with these people and felt so much closer to Granny's family than I did my own. No wonder I thought she was related. Dell had a boyfriend, Bob, and I can still picture him with his flat top haircut and his convertible Thunderbird. He used to call me Snoopy and I called him Red Baron. He was a very cool guy. Dell was interesting too. I'm not sure how old she was but she was older and "looser" than June. She was a carhop at Pennington's Drive In, a fairly famous eating establishment in the 60's and 70's. She had blonde hair that she wore in a beehive, was slim and trim (always wore stretch pants) and chewed gum alot. I remember her son, Ronnie, lived near the speedway and it was cool when we went to visit him because you could hear the cars racing around.
Some of my best (and not so best) memories were spending my summers at Granny's. I remember getting my head stuck in the back window of her car (the window only rolled down so far), watching I Love Lucy reruns and driving everyone crazy with my ability to constantly quote from the episodes. I remember June had a puppy that got stung by a bee and died. I remember that black fingernail that fell off. I remember walking to the corner store with Renee and buying candy that we ate on the way back home. I remember celebrating the New Year by banging pots and pans and a piece of the metal flew into my eye and I screamed bloody murder. I remember the red metal step chair that I always sat in so I could be high enough to eat at the table. I remember the hard wood floors and the rocking chair in the living room by the window and watching Lawrence Welk and Hee Haw because those were Granny's favorite shows. I remember saltines with butter and sweet tea.
Granny always had a chihuahua named Tippy. I think she had a couple of different ones but they were always named Tippy. And both of them were extremely protective of Granny. I still can't see a chihuahua without immediately thinking about Granny. The last time I visited her, sometime after I got my driver's license, we sat on her sofa, Tippy on her lap, and drank sweet tea and ate saltines with butter and watched Lawrence Welk. I knew then that Granny's health was probably failing her. We'd just learned about arteriosclerosis in school and when I saw her ankles, I recognized it as a symptom. That visit was the last time I saw my Granny. She passed away during my freshman year in college.
My mom never told me that Granny passed away. I found out when I came home one weekend and when she told me, I remember being so incredibly angry at her for not telling me sooner (she passed away months before my mother told me) and so unbelievably upset that my Granny was gone. I still have a picture of her. A really good one taken in her best Sunday dress.
I never saw Dell or June or Renee after Granny passed away. I got a Christmas card from Renee a few years later (she'd gotten married and I think had a baby) but we eventually lost touch.
