Thursday, November 4, 2010
Writing Down Memories of My Great "Grand" Mother
Last night I kept a date I made with my Great Grandmother - while chatting with her throughout the night I kept getting the urge to grab a paper and pen. I kept thinking I should write this down...I wonder if so and so knows this.
It might be a little random...but it feels important to me.
She was nominated for Football Queen. But then she had to stand up before her class and tell them that she couldn't do it. Back then every class nominated a girl and the class that raised the most money won, but she was afraid that since her family didn't have a car that she wouldn't be able to help or be in town for the festivities. The girl that took her place was so sweet and involved her in the whole process. She gave her a "long" dress to wear, took her along for the ride onto the football field and she was in the parade right next to the Football Queen.
She told me that her Dad was 36 and her Mom was 18 when they got married.
She never learned to drive...but there was one time that she had too. She must have waited for 20 minutes to cross the highway because she never felt it was safe enough to go. (this is still a little fuzzy since she told it to me a while ago but we talked about it again last night.)
She was the only one out of 9 children to graduate high school. Her parents made sure though that if there were school trips that she always had the money to go even if it meant doing without on their part. I told her I thought it was amazing that she knew even in high school what they were doing for her as kids are so unaware today - this was met with a head shake and things were different then.
Saturday was a big day then. They had a cow and her Mom used to save the cream from the milk for a week to sell so that on Saturday she could go out with friends. When I asked her what she would do with her friends she talked about the movies and how she and a friend could go for 25 cents.
She talked about her sister that moved to California. When her sister came home for a visit she was the only one still living with her parents. Her sister wanted her to come back to California with her...but she refused because her Mom's heart would be broken. She said that she wished she could have gone for just a visit but she was afraid that she would get out there and they wouldn't help her come back or she would have to wait until someone else wanted to come back.
She told me that my side of the family are the only ones that call her Mother. The other side calls her Nana. She thinks it's because when she would call my Grandma she would tell her kids that Mother was on the phone. This is how they came to know her and then it was just passed down to their children. We laughed about how strange it was.
She talked about the fact that she lived for 5 years alone after she got the divorce. She was selling her house when she met Don (Grandfather that I have always known) and his wife. She was crippled up really bad and she helped take care of her in the hospital. She said she doesn't know how they came to be married...he just called her one day and that's how it was.
While eating supper with my Grandma and Mother we got to talking about the different liquor bottles that my Grandma has in her dining room cabinet - my favorite being the one with a large pear in it - I turned to Mother and asked her if she was ever a drinker - sounds worse than I meant it - she said that she never was one to drink a lot but she would go to her friend's train car restaurant - there was a dance floor, restaurant and you could get drinks down stairs...but not the kind that could get you drunk. She couldn't remember the kind of drink she would have - just a little mixed drink.
She talked about moving around a lot with her Husband's job. That they lived in El Paso for some time but she didn't like it. The people she said were much different there - wanting to drink a lot. She was glad when they were able to move back home.
She told me about when 2 of her daughters were at odds with each other...this went on for some time. She said that one just decided that it was time to end it so she called the other sister and said come over, I'm making some coffee - the other sister was ready and willing to end it. She talked about how we all hold grudges but someone has to be the one to end it.
She's kept saying that she could remember things that happened so long ago - but she has a hard time remembering what happened last week.
I am going to be having dates with Mother every Wednesday night...I think that I have some pictures here at the house that belong to her and am going to bring them with her next week. Hopefully it will stir up some memories and she will share some more stories. It's fascinating to learn about all the things that she has been through.
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You remind me of my little sister; she goes to visit my great aunts all the time (both my grammas have passed) and hears all kinds of fun stories and gossip. Your post makes me wish that my grandparents were still here to chat with. Love that you're making time for Mother ♥
ReplyDeleteMy grandma is a New Yorker and never learned to drive. I did an interview on camcorder about 10 yrs ago and guess what? There was NO tape in the camera. She wouldn't do it again. I was so sad and disappointed.
ReplyDeleteMy grandparents on my dad's side created a video of themselves, but there's some strange buzzing noise so it's hard to hear them.
So cool that your Mother is here to share with you!
~Mimi
She sounds like a wonderful lady!
ReplyDeleteThat is so awesome that you get to spend time with her. I wish I could know my Grandmother better (even though my sisters say not nice things about her.) Unfortunately she died last year in her 90s.
ReplyDeleteHow sweet. It's amazing what we can learn from our grandparents and great grandparents.
ReplyDeleteThere is a program called StoryCorps where you can "interview" someone and get a recording of it. They even provide questions to help facilitate the conversation. My biggest regret is that I didn't take my Grandfather before he got sick. His stories about growing up dirt poor in TX are amazing.
If it ever comes by you, you should get a conversation with her recorded.
Have you ever heard of Story Corps...it's an oral history project associated with NPR. Anyone can do it..you get to interview a person and it's recorded and then put into the Library of Congress. I interviewed my grandmother 5 years ago and now have it saved forever. She passed away shortly after and I'm so grateful I got the chance to do so. I'm sure you can do a search to see where they're going to be next (they have a moblie studio and now have some permanent studios in some cities)..just thought you'd like to know.
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