Today I Miss My Grandma

I was getting ready for work this morning and letting my mind wander about various topics for today. I was steering toward gift-giving as a topic since I went shopping last night for a birthday card for a co-worker. (Happy Birthday, Cynthia!) Out of nowhere it dawned on me that for the first time in 35 years I am not going to have a birthday card waiting in my mailbox from my grandma. It was a bit of a shock actually.

So, after I re-applied my make up, I realized that this was the only thing I was going to be able to write about today. Today I miss my grandma. I wear her original wedding band almost every day. Here is one of my favorite pictures of us.

Here is a picture of the costume she made for me for my first musical. It was Alice in Wonderland and I was the Queen of Hearts (naturally). One sister was the Doo-Doo bird, my brother was a mushroom, and my baby sister was a sunflower. Grandma let me borrow one of her dresses (she and I could do that for many years, which I always thought made me special) and then she made my cape and big pouffy skirt with hearts on it. (I now have her sewing machine too) The best was the crown. I had the yarn wig of course made out of pantyhose and yarn ringlets that were glued to it. (It sounds bad, I know) And my crown was a KFC bucket that we spray painted gold and I glued sequins and glitter on it. Good grief, I have the biggest smile on my face like I was truly royalty. I got to wear make up (my early experience with red lipstick) and carry a scepter filled with candy hearts (which I ate during the performance, when not yelling "Off with her head!" at the appropriate times.)

Good times. She was so cool. She had the best shoes too. She worked in the shoe department for a large department store for many years. I thought it was probably the best job in the whole world. She was one of the first people I saw that had metallic silver tennis shoes. (Back in the 80's, I'm sure). And she made special birthday cakes. Two of mine that I can recall included a turtle (back when I could stomach coconut, I suppose) and a flamingo. I kind of wish I had come across her cake book when my sisters and I went through her recipe box. Instead I ended up with her strawberry jam recipe. (Merry Christmas everyone, enjoy the jam)

Ah well, I'm sure I could ramble on for awhile about this. Needless to say, she was very special to me and a lot of very good childhood memories and just general family feel-good stuff comes from having spent time with her and my grandfather (I have his golf clubs now).

Not to end this on a downer, but I really hate the reality of entering this phase in my life where I seem to be accumulating/inheriting things from dead relatives. It's creepy and sad.

Have a nice day.