Going to Grandma's

The cashier in the cafe this morning allowed as how she was way more than 'excellent' this morning because her grandchildren were coming to visit - ages 10, 8 and 4 and she only gets to see them about once a year. She was so excited and it made me want to go visit my Grandma.

My Grandma has been pretty dead now for a long time but when I was 10, 8 and 4 she was very alive and visiting her was better than anything else in the entire world. Ever. We never lived very close so we generally only got to see her once, maybe twice a year. The very best was when we got dropped off and left there.

Grandma had cereal bowls with animals in the bottom and matching milk glasses. Grandma had candy dishes full of candy right out in the living room! Grandma had Coca Cola in the refrigerator and she let you drink it right out of the bottle. Grandma had the greatest toys in the closet on the screen-in porch. She let you play tea party with her good china cups and dress up with all her clothes.

Grandma had big, soft squishy arms. To this day, I have never ever been hugged as perfectly as I was when she did it. She surrounded me with that wonderful grandma smell and and those fabulous soft squish arms and made me feel like there was no on in the world more loved and more safe.

I am so lucky to have had my Grandma.

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Going to Grandma's

The cashier in the cafe this morning allowed as how she was way more than 'excellent' this morning because her grandchildren were coming to visit - ages 10, 8 and 4 and she only gets to see them about once a year. She was so excited and it made me want to go visit my Grandma.

My Grandma has been pretty dead now for a long time but when I was 10, 8 and 4 she was very alive and visiting her was better than anything else in the entire world. Ever. We never lived very close so we generally only got to see her once, maybe twice a year. The very best was when we got dropped off and left there.

Grandma had cereal bowls with animals in the bottom and matching milk glasses. Grandma had candy dishes full of candy right out in the living room! Grandma had Coca Cola in the refrigerator and she let you drink it right out of the bottle. Grandma had the greatest toys in the closet on the screen-in porch. She let you play tea party with her good china cups and dress up with all her clothes.

Grandma had big, soft squishy arms. To this day, I have never ever been hugged as perfectly as I was when she did it. She surrounded me with that wonderful grandma smell and and those fabulous soft squish arms and made me feel like there was no on in the world more loved and more safe.

I am so lucky to have had my Grandma.

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The flip side of the grandma coin

My Grandma of The Great Hug was my Mom's mom. I had another grandmother - my Dad's mom. My Dad's mom was a grandmother cut out of an entirely different cloth.

She was a tall thin ugly looking woman from East Texas. She never used decent grammar. She never smiled. She certainly didn't hug. She had horse hair furniture and we were required to wear our Sunday School dresses at her house so her stupid couch scratched my thighs. It was at least something to think about during the endless hours we were forced to sit there while the grown ups chatted.

She firmly believed - and told you at every opportunity - that playing on wet grass gave you kidney trouble. (At the time, the only kidney I knew about was kidney beans which I didn't like so the fact that I might cause them trouble kind of delighted me.) She said that if you didn't get off the escalator in time it would eat your shoes and then your feet and then you. And goddamn that mean old bitch, every time I'm on an escalator even today, I get anxious.

She was cranky and whiny and she didn't like me either. She died a long while back, too and once in a while when I conjure on an afterlife, I see her sitting here snarling at me... 'come on in, my pretty... '

I've said this to her but I think in my next life, I do want to have aellia and John as my grandparents. I want to put on my gummies and go with John to feed the lambs. I want Penny to stand me up in a chair in the kitchen and get chocolate all over me. Plus, maybe if I was around them I'd get a cool British accent!

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The flip side of the grandma coin

My Grandma of The Great Hug was my Mom's mom. I had another grandmother - my Dad's mom. My Dad's mom was a grandmother cut out of an entirely different cloth.

She was a tall thin ugly looking woman from East Texas. She never used decent grammar. She never smiled. She certainly didn't hug. She had horse hair furniture and we were required to wear our Sunday School dresses at her house so her stupid couch scratched my thighs. It was at least something to think about during the endless hours we were forced to sit there while the grown ups chatted.

She firmly believed - and told you at every opportunity - that playing on wet grass gave you kidney trouble. (At the time, the only kidney I knew about was kidney beans which I didn't like so the fact that I might cause them trouble kind of delighted me.) She said that if you didn't get off the escalator in time it would eat your shoes and then your feet and then you. And goddamn that mean old bitch, every time I'm on an escalator even today, I get anxious.

She was cranky and whiny and she didn't like me either. She died a long while back, too and once in a while when I conjure on an afterlife, I see her sitting here snarling at me... 'come on in, my pretty... '

I've said this to her but I think in my next life, I do want to have aellia and John as my grandparents. I want to put on my gummies and go with John to feed the lambs. I want Penny to stand me up in a chair in the kitchen and get chocolate all over me. Plus, maybe if I was around them I'd get a cool British accent!

( Error: Irreparable invalid markup in entry. Raw contents behind the cut. )

And now grandpas

Might as well cover this whole thing completely and give proper due to the grandpas...

( Error: Irreparable invalid markup in entry. Raw contents behind the cut. )

And now grandpas

Might as well cover this whole thing completely and give proper due to the grandpas...

( Error: Irreparable invalid markup in entry. Raw contents behind the cut. )

I'm an entry fool today

Here are two entries in one since I'm so far over my quota today.

I have new respect for the Air Force today.  They rejected my nephew.  My nephew is a very young (25), very cute, very lazy ne'er do well.  He has been fired from his last two jobs and doesn't care.  But the coup de gras, apparently is that he has some kind of police record that he forgot to mention.  He's not bright enough, I guess, to figure out they would find out.  No telling what the offense was - I'm getting this from my Mother who's getting it - probably way scrubbed - from my brother (the kid's father) who never got the whole truth to start with.

Anyway, all of us should be relieved that my nephew will be having no part of our safety and security and national defense.

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I get off the bus in the International District of Seattle.  It's a wonderful and large neighborhood of mostly Asian people, restaurants, shops, profressionals, etc.  And lots of tourists.  When I got off the bus today there were three young girls - probably 14 - chattering away in what I think was Korean about who was going to take the picture of whom first.  So I went up to them and motioned with my hands that I would take all three of them. 

Man, was I ever their favorite old white lady du jour!  They were so cute.  Each of them had cameras - each different and each needed a picture of the three of them with the clock tower in the background.  They giggled the whole time. It was adorable.  When we were done I gave them back their cameras and made them pose one more time for mine.  I got what I sure hope is the worst shot of the bunch.  They must have thanked me a million times.  It made my day.

I'm an entry fool today

Here are two entries in one since I'm so far over my quota today.

I have new respect for the Air Force today.  They rejected my nephew.  My nephew is a very young (25), very cute, very lazy ne'er do well.  He has been fired from his last two jobs and doesn't care.  But the coup de gras, apparently is that he has some kind of police record that he forgot to mention.  He's not bright enough, I guess, to figure out they would find out.  No telling what the offense was - I'm getting this from my Mother who's getting it - probably way scrubbed - from my brother (the kid's father) who never got the whole truth to start with.

Anyway, all of us should be relieved that my nephew will be having no part of our safety and security and national defense.

---

I get off the bus in the International District of Seattle.  It's a wonderful and large neighborhood of mostly Asian people, restaurants, shops, profressionals, etc.  And lots of tourists.  When I got off the bus today there were three young girls - probably 14 - chattering away in what I think was Korean about who was going to take the picture of whom first.  So I went up to them and motioned with my hands that I would take all three of them. 

Man, was I ever their favorite old white lady du jour!  They were so cute.  Each of them had cameras - each different and each needed a picture of the three of them with the clock tower in the background.  They giggled the whole time. It was adorable.  When we were done I gave them back their cameras and made them pose one more time for mine.  I got what I sure hope is the worst shot of the bunch.  They must have thanked me a million times.  It made my day.