I’ve talked a lot about Grandma P. She would have been 101 years old yesterday. She was born February 19, 1919. She was a huge influence on my life during my formative years, and I miss her every day. My memories of her are sweet treasures.
She passed away when I was little, but I still remember so many things about her. In honor of Grandma’s 101st birthday, I’d like to give you a glimpse at the woman who meant the world to me.
Grandma’s favorite food was ice cream cones. Root beer floats were a close second. She loved the local musical show, “Melody Matinee,” and the network show, “The Rockford Files,” which she watched on a tiny black and white TV from her green recliner. She drove an old green car, and her legs were so short that the steering wheel rubbed her belly. She drove with both feet. I asked her why once, and she said that’s how she was most comfortable.
My memoir, “Dollhouse,” which was published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas last year, was about the dollhouses she used to make me using cardboard boxes.
Grandma made dollhouses for me out of shoe boxes, laundry soap boxes, cereal boxes, and canning jar boxes. I loved canning jar boxes. They had dividers that made lots of rooms, which she decorated with aluminum foil for windows, wrapping paper for wallpaper, magazine pages for furniture, and tons of other goodies from around the house.
She made paper dolls for me, read countless books to me, and let me pretend her flower vases were Cinderella and her wicked step-sisters. She bought Easy Cheese, chicken noodle soup, and Little Debbie snack cakes just for me. She blew bubbles with me from the front porch, pulled me around the yard in the red wagon, and let me pick her prized roses.
My sweet grandma always had time for me and made me feel like the most important person on the planet. She taught me to appreciate nature’s beauty, how to use my imagination, and how to create things with my own hands.
I was blessed to have a wonderful grandma for the first eight years of my life. Her love and wisdom have stayed with me all these years. I aspire to be to my grandchildren what she was to me. Thank you for reading Ozarks Maven! If you’ve enjoyed my little seeds of wisdom and joy, please subscribe to Ozarks Maven, Like Ozarks Maven on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter @OzarksMaven.
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