You never know how long you will have the people you love in your life, and since I never met my Great Grandparents the memories of my parents is all that I have of these special people. In honor of that, I want to share 10 of my favorite memories of my Grandma Pat:
1. When I was little I would spend a long time in her bathroom going through her beauty products. She has this soapy smell that is a combination of her lotions, perfumes, and make up that I can smell even now that she isn't next to me. I would open her bottles and spray her perfumes and then try on all of her jewelry that she had in her jewelry box. As I got older her rings got tighter and her necklaces could no longer just slip on my little head. Now when I go to her house I still do this. I close the door and see what new things she has, try on her jewelry, and just smell her.
2. At the lake my Grandma always has Lubriderm lotion on her nightstand. I always use it because when I was little we had Suave (aka the cheap lotion). Her "expensive" lotion was a treat that I left was one of the finer things in life, and it always smelled so good. Now that I am a grownup I have my own bottle on my nightstand and use it every night.
3. My Grandparents would always take us to Skippers (seafood restaurant) when we would stay with them. My brother would get fish and chips, I would get clams because that is what Grandma would get and it seemed so grownup. I love friend clams now and order them often. She knows good food!
4. At Christmas time my Grandma would make hundreds of cookies. Sugar cookies, date filled cookies, thumb print, Russian tea cookies...all different kinds. She always makes me my favorite refrigerator cookies. They are brown sugary and crispy and yummy. She has two card tables that she sets up with boxes and boxes of cookies and candies and she lets you fill up a container with whatever kinds you want, as long as everyone leaves enough of the refrigerator cookies for me take home!
5. When I graduated from college I moved into an apartment without a washer or dryer. She would let me drop off my laundry and she would do it for me. She was always making comments about how my underwear was too small (thongs are a new thing for that generation I guess) and that I needed to unroll my socks, not just throw them into the bin in balls after I take them off. I still can't believe she would do my laundry...she even folded it! I would come and pick it up at the end of the day. I was so spoiled!
6. My Grandmother had the most beautiful Christmas tree I have ever seen. They would get it flocked in white and put blue lights and blue bulbs on it. The white tree with a blue glow is still to this day the prettiest Christmas thing I have ever seen. She stopped doing this a long time ago...getting a tree flocked is no longer a thing to do and she has a fake tree. I miss those giant white and blue trees. I miss them so much.
7. When I stayed with my Grandma when I was little we would watch Walker Texas Ranger every night. She would call it Walker. I loved that show so much, and would look forward to when we would finish dinner and I would sit on the couch, her in her chair, and watched our Walker on her big TV in the cabinet.
8. My Grandma would go to bed late and sleep in. This was a big deal as a kid because that means she was THE COOLEST OLD PERSON IN THE WORLD. Most "old people" would go to bed early and be up early, but my Grandma would stay up late and watch TV. It was so cool. She is still cool in this way. She will go and play bingo until 2am and won't schedule anything until later in the day the next day.
9. When I got married my Grandma let me pick out a pin from her jewelry that I could put on my bouquet. Going through her jewelry with her was so exciting, mostly because I would go through it when she didn't know because she has cool jewelry. She would pull something out and hold it in her hands and say "Oh Granddad gave this to me for Christmas." It was special and lovely and I actually never gave back the pin I used because it meant so much she let me use it...I don't think she knows this, hopefully she doesn't remember.
10. When she met my daughter she was so happy and immediately started smiling from ear to ear and talking to her as if she knew her her whole life. She held her and Ella smiled and seeing my Grandma play with her and talk to her made me realize how much my family means to me. Ella smiled and cooed at her, not even knowing what a special moment this was. A moment that I will tell her when she is older, and show her the photos of when she met one of the most special ladies I have ever known.
I hope everyone holds their Grandparents close if you still have them, and also hold in your hearts those who are no longer with us.
Here is a photo of me with my two Grandmas:
