Ramblings

The nice thing about doing a blog is that you can say things that are on your mind and you never know who's out there reading. The bad thing about doing a blog is that you can say things that are on your mind and you never know who's out there reading......especially if you mention other people!! Even an innocuous, innocent statement can come back to haunt you - I now know that my younger cousins never knew my mom was a cheerleader in high school. All I have to say about that is - hang with me, little cousins and no telling what you'll learn!!

Today was one of those sluggish days where I never quite felt like my brain and my body got on the same wavelength. The good news is that I didn't come home from work feeling like I didn't accomplish anything! It's amazing all the pluses I'm finding with not working. There's no pressure of time constraints at home, I can do things whenever I feel like it......and there's always tomorrow.

We finished off some leftovers for supper, then topped it off with some vanilla ice cream. I put some Mrs. Butterworth's on mine, and hubby thought that was an excellent idea. I told him he could thank my Grandma Edwards for that. She taught me the finer points of topping vanilla ice cream with pancake syrup. She taught me lots of other things, including how to be a terrific grandma. I always loved spending time at her house during summer vacation.

We visited her every other Sunday throughout the year, often at the same time as my uncle and his family. Grandma always had such yummy food, and she was great at having everyone's favorite food. There would be roast beef or fried chicken.......and often she also made salmon patties because my cousin and I loved them. I've also been known to ignore the "real" food she cooked in favor of a baloney sandwich. My folks would get onto me, but Grandma was always fine with it. There was almost always a bowl of navy beans on the table, because that was my uncle's favorite.

Grandma always had a Big Chief tablet in her dresser - what she called her "diary book". She wrote in it every night - nothing earth shattering, but a chronicle of the day's weather, what she did, etc. I'd hate to guess how many of those Big Chief tablets she filled over the years. There was always a dish of hard candy sitting on her TV. And she used green ink pens - especially in what should have been her retirement years when she was waitressing at a local restaurant. I still love using green pens because they remind me of her.

 She never understood why we thought she was such a wonderful grandma, because in her mind she was just Margaret. Grandma didn't leave us until she was in her 90's, and Alzheimers had taken away her ability to know us. But she still loved having all of us come visit her. I always felt like she was looking down at us and smiling (or laughing!) during her funeral service. I was trying to control my kids - who were 10, 13 and 14 at the time. THEY were fine - my purse slid off my shoulder and down my arm, hitting my watch. That wouldn't be too bad, but it was a musical Mickey Mouse watch and the purse strap hit the button that made it play "It's A Small World". Luckily, the church organist was still playing, but the kids were cracking up. When we got to the cemetery, my cousin had to grab me so she didn't fall when her high heel sank into the ground. We were both giggling. Then afterward, during the family lunch at the church hall, three young great-grandsons were overheard discussing how to make a pipe bomb. We parents weren't too happy, but we figured Grandma would have thoroughly enjoyed it.

Even though she was the sixth of seven sisters, she was one of a kind and we all loved her dearly. It's been 20 years without her, and we have such wonderful memories.