Remembering My Grandmother

Today is the anniversary of my grandmother's death. She passed away on June 28, 2007. I can't believe she has been gone for nine years.

Grandma was my mother's mother. My grandmother was 40 years old when I was born, and she went on to have a sixth child, a young son born on my first birthday. I tend to remember her young, because she was young when I was growing up, although to a child 40 looks old, I know.

My mother's mother was my full-time, hands-on grandma. My father's mother is still alive at the age of 96, but she lives in California. I did not get to know her.

I knew Grandma, though. She started keeping me when I around three, I guess, and then kept my brother. She had a houseful of kids, with a son four years older than I and then the son a year younger, and my brother and me.

My mother worked at a job only a block from where my grandmother lived, which was handy. When my brother or I (or both) stayed with Grandma, she could drop us off and pick us up without problem.
After school started, Grandma kept us during the summers when school was out, and on weekends when my parents would be away (my father played in a Top 40 band). I was sickly and missed about 30 days of school every year. Grandma took care of me on those days.

My grandmother cooked every day. My grandfather worked at the Kroger warehouse, where he was a foreman. He went in early and came home at 4:10 p.m. every day. And that was when he wanted to eat.

So we always had an early dinner at my grandmother's. And I still eat early to this day, preferring to have it all over and done with by 6:15 p.m. at the latest.

If Grandma had a food speciality, it was macaroni and cheese. I'm not talking about mac and cheese like you buy in the Kraft boxes. I really can't describe her mac and cheese except that she made a lot of it and we all ate it.

She also liked to fix pudding. She did not use instant mixes but made the cooked kind of Jello brand pudding. I remember one day she was out of chocolate. Of course we wanted chocolate.

She made up some chocolate milk and used vanilla pudding mix to create what we thought was the best chocolate pudding ever.

After that, we asked for her special chocolate pudding instead of the normal kind. We did not always get it, but she made it occasionally.
Grandmas are like that, you know. They offer up treats and love in all sorts of ways.
My grandmother's birthday is also in June, so I have been missing her this month. I have thought of her often and I hope she knows she remains in my heart.