Monday, June 25, 2012

The Good Life

My sweet little precious 93 year old Grandma passed away last Friday.

I am named for her...Anice.

But her name is pronounced "Aa-nis" and I am "Uh-neice" (like "hello, I am Jane's niece Anice" and it rhymes.   So my name rhymes with "niece" and her name is like Janice without the "J".  I much prefer her pronunciation...more elegant...more southern...

She fell and hit her head...but the way I look at it, it was her time...it was her time to go and be with God and her husbands.  She had Alzheimer's and had it for quite a while...but I can tell you that she managed to live a long good life even with the Alzheimer's...

Yes, note the plural on "husbands"...

My awesome Grandma outlived 3 husbands!

Her first husband, who was my biological grandfather died young and left my Grandma a young widow.  My mother was only 16 years old.  He died when his plane crashed into the Atlantic.  Ironically they found the plane when the investigators were looking for the remnants of TWA Flight 800 which crashed into the Atlantic in July of 1996...but at least my family had complete closure even though it was a shock for them to find the aircraft so long after he crashed.

When I was about 2 my Grandma married the man I refer to as my Grandpa.  His name was Bob...but for me he was always Grandpa.  I was totally spoiled by him...and my Grandma.  Being the oldest grandchild I got more than my fair share of doting upon.  Uh yeah...like taking me out to eat a footlong hot dog when I was 10 even though I could only eat 6 inches of it...but yeah, they let me have it anyway.

Spoiled rotten...that was me...

After Grandpa passed away Grandma came to live with my mom for a while...but in 1998 she married her high school sweetheart who was named John.  Yes, some 50+ years later they reunited and got married.  John waited a long time to have his Anice...and they were very happy until he sadly passed away several years later...but they had about 6 lovely years together.  I'm bad with the dates and years details...

When Grandma was living with my mom Ke$ha Barbie spent a great deal of time with her.  Mom and I would look for Ke$ha Barbie and then we would realize she was upstairs with her "Gigi" (great grandmother).  We would find them having a grand time together in my Grandma's little apartment that was attached to my mom's house.  Ke$ha Barbie loved loved loved her Gigi...and when she was little she spent time playing with Grandma's various collections...like her bell collection...which I also played with as a child.

Once summer I spent several weeks up in Overland Park, KS with my Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jane and Aunt Gayle.  We had the best time...my sister Noel was with me and we had a blast every day being up there.  Gayle grew some strawberries and Grandma taught me how to make strawberry shortcake.  I can't have it for dessert without thinking about her and the shortcake!

I also learned what saccharine was.  She and Grandpa would put the little saccharine tabs in their coffee and I would try and sneak some...at first it would taste good and then it got a bitter taste...but when I see saccharine tablets I think of my grandparents.

My Grandma was a secretary.  And a darn good one.  She would often type letters to me...last Christmas my aunts found a letter she had typed to me but for some reason never sent.  I think the reason was that I needed that letter more 32 years later than I did when she sent it to me...it was about my parents divorce and to be brave...and that letter helped me stay brave through my divorce even though I knew I was doing the right thing.

Once time my ex and I (while we were still married) took Ke$ha Barbie and The Cutest Boy in the World (TCBITW) on a road trip to Florida.  Along the way we stopped in Laurel, MS to visit Grandma and Grandpa John.  They lived in a cute little apartment complex in Laurel.  There was a pond by the mailbox area and some geese lived there.  For some reason one of the geese HATED my Grandma.  I don't know why...but John told us the goose (or maybe it was a duck but I'm pretty sure it was a goose)  would see Grandma and go after her.  Sure enough that goose saw my sweet little Grandma and he started flapping his wings and running after her as we stood by the pond.

Dumb goose...he should have chased me...

Grandma loved to sing...especially to Frank Sinatra.  Even at 93 she could still carry a tune and would sing her favorite songs.  She taught me some songs---the one I remember most was "Marzy Doats" (you know...mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy...").  I loved singing that with her when I was little...

One of my favorite stories about Grandma didn't happen to me...it actually is a story about my sister Susu (Susan) and Grandma.  Once when Grandma was visiting and Susu was about 6 they were outside by the pool.

Grandma pointed to the gate (that led to the front yard) and asked Susu "Susan, where does this gate go?"

Susu answered (quite matter-of-factly my grandmother said): "Nowhere Grandma!  It just stays here!  It doesn't GO anywhere!!!!"

Gosh but I love that story...

This Christmas was my last with my sweet Grandma.  When I arrived on Christmas day to my Aunt Jane's house Grandma looked at me curiously and I could tell she wasn't sure who I was.  I think sometimes she thought I was my mother (once I lost my weight)...and I think my weight loss did confuse her a bit.

We sat down to Christmas lunch and I scored the spot across the table from Grandma.  There were several people at the table and we were all chatting.

In the middle of the meal Grandma looked up from her plate and smiled at me and said "Hi Nicey!"

And she's back!!!!!!!

Woo hoo she knew who I was...I got about 5 minutes of her knowing that it was ME sitting there across from her.

Best.Christmas.Present.Ever.

Truly was....

Grandma was loving her lunch that day...we were all having a great time.  I loved eating that last meal with her that way.

In the middle of the meal my wonderful Aunt Evelyn (who is married to my uncle) came in and was kissing and hugging everyone.  She kissed Grandma...and after she walked away Grandma said "Who is that ?" (lest you think she didn't love my Aunt Evelyn, I assure you she did...she asked "Who is that" about EVERYONE because she was 92 at that time and had Alzheimer's).

I said "Grandma, that's Evelyn!"

she still looked confused...

Jane said "Phil's wife!"

Grandma looked across the table and said to us "Who would marry Phil?"

We lost it laughing...and when you are 92 you can say whatever you want...

And lest you think she didn't love my Uncle Phil I can assure you she did...but he didn't get married until he was in his early 50's...but that is just because he was waiting for the right one to come along and that right one is my Tia Evelyn (I call her that because she is Puerto Rican...and I love love love her!).

So what else can I tell you about my grandmother?

She cut the heads off of almost everyone when she took a picture...

She loved the color blue...

She loved my father even after he divorced my mother...

Losing my mother broke her heart and I have to say I'm glad she had Alzheimer's so she didn't have to have the pain of remembering she lost her oldest child every day...

There wasn't anyone who met her that didn't love her...

She had beautiful eyes and an amazing smile...

She had a great sense of humor...

She loved Burger King Chicken Sandwiches...

She hated sushi but gamely tried it every time we went to the sushi bar...

She loved cookies...especially chocolate chip ones!  I gave her a special cookie jar one year for Christmas and she always kept her cookies there...

She was born in Laurel, MS and was a southern belle in every sense of the word...

She was a tiny petite thing...but in my eyes she was always mighty...

Once when my mom was "frosting" Grandma's hair I told Grandma that it looked like "her hair was worms"...she wasn't all that happy about what my mother was doing anyway so she answered me with "Nicey, that is not helping..."....I still laugh about that...

She loved to dance...she and Grandpa spent a lot of evenings dancing their hearts out...in fact we lost my sweet Grandpa one night to a heart attack after they had been out dancing...

She always called me "Nicey" (rhymes with piecey)

She was the best grandma ever...she was wonderful...

Inspiration Song: "The Good Life" by Frank Sinatra...I think it's perfect...

Bye Darlings...I hope you were all as lucky as me to have the best grandma ever...I know I was...she was simply the best and I was blessed to have her...

No comments:

Post a Comment