A Birthday

Today would be my Grandma Emma's birthday.  I thought about her throughout the day.  She died in 1963.  She was, as I remember, 89.  She was bent over with age and her face was lined with wrinkles as long as I remember.  She was always very old, to me.  I think I have a lot of her personality traits.

She was highly emotional, cried easily over good-byes.  My dad was like her, in being easily touched by someone's need.  She was very slow in her movements and needed more sleep rather than less.

She looked grandmotherly.  She wore long, full dresses.  Her hair was waist long, braided in two braids and wrapped around her head.  She held the braids in place with big, fat celluloid hair pins.  Washing her hair was a big deal and when she was failing in health at the end of her days, she had to consent to have her hair cut so that it could be taken care of easily.

She was very cluttery and saved many useless things in bags and boxes. She gave up her home too early in her life and lived half the year in our home and the other half in Uncle Art's home in Indiana.  Sometimes she visited her other children for a few days.  But she needed her own place, where she could be the one to be in charge.  Some times it was hard for my mom.  But we did make it. We really did love each other.  I knew that Grandma loved me.

  I would like to say, "Happy Birthday, Grandma."

Posted by: NJ on 4/25/2005 10:17:20 PM , 2 comments