Remember...
For some reason...today I felt the presence of my Grandmother more than I have in a long time. Her spirit is as real and fresh as it was in August 1987 when she died.
I smell her.......she smells like wildflowers and flour for some reason. I can feel her hands... smooth and soft from years of use....nails hard and strong...and painted red. A gold band with tiny diamonds circles her ring finger. I can see her face as clearly as I did as a child...hair perfectly combed and set...glasses resting on the brim of her nose...a small mole on the side of her nose...and a gold rim around a tooth that winked at me when she smiled. She was my haven...she was my heaven.
She told me...taught me...that I could do anything. No fear. She raised me to be the person I am today.
The moment you get up...you make your bed. "Can you imagine crawling into an unmade bed at night?" she would ask. She would be dissappointed in me...sometimes I don't make my bed up for weeks. At her house sheets were washed, starched and ironed before putting them on the bed. When I'm very sentimental I still iron my sheets.....just like she taught me to do.
I never eat breakfast...never. Thinking about putting food in my stomach before 11 simply gags me...but we always ate breakfast at my Grandmother's. I would awaken to the smell of bacon frying and bread toasting and quickly make my bed then tiptoe into the kitchen kept warm by the kerosene heater. Eggs perfectly served over easy...bacon with the fat dried off...and toast "baked" to perfection. She could not do anything wrong.
We watched Lawrence Welk on the weekends and she would serve up vanilla ice cream and pour coffee over the top. She was serving Starbuck's coffee before their process was even an idea.
She listened to me play the piano and always gave me a standing ovation. We fished and picked vegetables together...she was my constant.
I would not have survived my life if she had not taken me. She reached out with those wide arms and wrapped them around me and held me and protected me.
I feel her arms around me now. I smell her. I see her face. I love her.
I smell her.......she smells like wildflowers and flour for some reason. I can feel her hands... smooth and soft from years of use....nails hard and strong...and painted red. A gold band with tiny diamonds circles her ring finger. I can see her face as clearly as I did as a child...hair perfectly combed and set...glasses resting on the brim of her nose...a small mole on the side of her nose...and a gold rim around a tooth that winked at me when she smiled. She was my haven...she was my heaven.
She told me...taught me...that I could do anything. No fear. She raised me to be the person I am today.
The moment you get up...you make your bed. "Can you imagine crawling into an unmade bed at night?" she would ask. She would be dissappointed in me...sometimes I don't make my bed up for weeks. At her house sheets were washed, starched and ironed before putting them on the bed. When I'm very sentimental I still iron my sheets.....just like she taught me to do.
I never eat breakfast...never. Thinking about putting food in my stomach before 11 simply gags me...but we always ate breakfast at my Grandmother's. I would awaken to the smell of bacon frying and bread toasting and quickly make my bed then tiptoe into the kitchen kept warm by the kerosene heater. Eggs perfectly served over easy...bacon with the fat dried off...and toast "baked" to perfection. She could not do anything wrong.
We watched Lawrence Welk on the weekends and she would serve up vanilla ice cream and pour coffee over the top. She was serving Starbuck's coffee before their process was even an idea.
She listened to me play the piano and always gave me a standing ovation. We fished and picked vegetables together...she was my constant.
I would not have survived my life if she had not taken me. She reached out with those wide arms and wrapped them around me and held me and protected me.
I feel her arms around me now. I smell her. I see her face. I love her.
Comments