I was thinking about my grandparents lately. Specially my grandma and grandpa B. It has been a long time since they past away. I was only 10 when they pasted away. My grandpa had alt-timers and my grandma couldn't take care of him so he was put in a rest home where you could get better care. I remember that every Sunday my parents and I would take my grandma to visit her. Grandpa didn't remember that many people there were only 3 of us that he remembered. My grandma, my dad (who was his middle daughter's husband) and me. I am the youngest grandchild on my mothers side of the family. I don't know why my grandpa remembered me and not my cousins but as a young child I didn't know how special that was. I would get so mad at him because he always thought I was 7. That was the age I was when he first started to get sick. To a 10 year old being remembered as younger than you are is a big deal. Anyway some of the memories I have of my grandpa is at the rest home taking him for a ride around the world. This just meant that I pushed him in his wheelchair around the halls. But I can remember making up stories with him about where in the world we were and what we would see there. I also can remember my grandpa before he was in the rest home.
The memory I hold the most dear about Grandpa Braithwaite was fishing on the lawn with him. This consisted of getting the lawn chairs out, a bucket, two sticks or rulers if we couldn't find any sticks, string. We would make fishing poles and pretend to catch fish in the bucket. It was so fun. I can still hear my grandma and mom sitting in the house laughing at us. While Grandpa and I fished he would teach me the words to the song You Are My Sunshine. Every time I hear that song I start to cry because it reminds me of this time with Grandpa. I will always have this memory and hold it dear. I like remembering Grandpa B fishing on the lawn to me and laughing and singing.
A memory of my Grandma Braithwaite that is dear to me well let me share with you a few of them. I remember that every time we went to Grandma's house she would have snacks and always try to feed us. I can remember getting into the freezer in the backroom and getting out a ding-dong. Another memory of Grandma is staying with her when I was home sick from school and Mom and Dad had to work. I would lay on the couch and watch Days of Our Lives and Guiding Light with her. She loved her soap opera's! I also remember Grandma letting me get in her dresser drawer and get a Little Debbie Nutter Butter which were her private stash. Another treasured memory is of a gift Grandma gave me.
I was really sick with the chicken pox's and Mom and Dad had taken Grandma shopping. When they got home Mom brought me this box and said that Grandma hoped I got feeling better soon and that this would help. I opened it and there was a porcelain music box. The music box has what I call a "Grandma" Goose and her granddaughter on it. It plays It's a Small World After All. I remember falling asleep to the song and thinking of grandma. When she died that music box became even more special to me. I can remember one time I ended up hitting it and breaking it. I cried and cried and told my parents that it had to be fixed because it was from Grandma and couldn't be replaced. My dad was able to super glue the goose back on in fact you can barely see the crack in it. I have always taken care of it in fact it stays on the piano in the front room. The music box always helps me remember my grandma.
This is a picture of my "Grandma Goose" Music box.
I have many memories of my mother. All my friends thought she was the coolest Mom on the block because she always treated them like family. Mom always had a smile on her face even when she was in a lot of pain. She would always sing specially when she was in pain. She always made up little songs. She was more than my mother she was always my friend. She knew how to make everything better. One of the memories that I hold dear is her reading to me at night. Mom would make up these stories about a squirrel named Timothy. Timothy always went on crazy adventures and Mom made these stories the best. I can always remember that Timothy was always getting into trouble and remembering things that his mother told him. I remember asking Mom to tell me another story about Timothy and what he got up to she would start telling me a story and I would say "no Mom that's not what he was doing last night." Mom would smile and say this is a different story about him tonight. I have this little squirrel figurine that I got after Mom died to help me remember her telling me stories about Timothy and all the mischief he got into.
These are just a few memories that make me feel close to my loved ones. I hope you enjoyed these treasured memories that I shared.
