It seems like I'm always celebrating an anniversary or birthday on this blog. I hope you don't mind. Today I am wishing a posthumous happy birthday to my grandmother, Edna Fernald Porter. She was an amazing lady. Those of you reading this who knew her will testify to that. I have never met a nicer person in my life. She was born on June 3, 1918 (or June 2, depending on which records you believe.) I go with what she told me, and that was June 3rd.
My grandmother lived a long life, but not an easy one. She was a private person, so I won't go into too many details. I'll just focus on my time with her, and what it meant to me. Grammy was easygoing, sweet, generous and a great cook. She was patient, tolerant of the bad times,and always made the best of things, looking on the bright side. I like to think I get my patience from her.
I have many happy memories of my grandmother, too many to include here. The best times were when we visited and were alone with her in the kitchen, eating lunch she made for us (when we were little) or lunch we made for her (when we were older) The "we" here is my sister. We took the bus to her house in the summer, and stayed all day. It was nice, even despite the bad soap opera she watched at 1:00.
When she was younger, we all walked to Star Market, where she did a little food shopping. I think we must have stopped at Cottage Donuts too, I have a vague memory of eating a blueberry filled donut. Grammy loved her desserts! We were always having cake, cookies or pie when we were over her house.
After the soap opera, we would go sit outside. We would walk up the street with her cocker spaniel. She had a weakness for cocker spaniels, too. She was also a cat lover, and several cats during her lifetime. Because of the money she donated to the various animal charities, she was set for life with calendars and address labels and note cards!
I never go into the neighborhood where she used to live since she passed away. There's no longer a reason to go there. Last year I did drive past her house on the way to a supermarket we rarely go to. It was strange seeing the house knowing different people live there. I wanted to knock, and go look inside to see if it was at all the same. That house had a certain smell to it, a feel to it. Where they did renovations, I wonder if that is gone. I wonder if it left when she did.
Not that it really matters. What does matter is that the people she left behind never forget her. And I guarantee you that will never happen! I will always remember her laugh and her smile, the tone of her voice and the way she said "hello?" when she answered the telephone.
Grammy was incredibly thoughtful. One of the earliest memories I have of her thoughtfulness was how when it was my sister's birthday, she had to bring a present for me, too. It seems I was a big crybaby, and got jealous of my sister when she got a present. OK, I was only three years old, but that's beside the point.
Another thing that made my grandmother special was how supportive she was, and how she always believed in me, even when I felt like a loser. Just before she died, I had to take a demotion at work. It was devastating, and I wanted to tell her about it, but I was afraid of worrying her while she was sick. She was in and out of nursing homes and the hospital, and I didn't want her worrying about me. I was also trying to find another job, and hoped to have good news to tell her, and tell her the whole story then.
As it turned out, she passed away before I could tell her. I'm assuming she found out about it later, ("up there"). Grammy, I hope you understand. But I wish I had told you when it happened.
I don't have a lot of pictures of my Grammy. She was shy about that. I wish I had more of us together. I think there are only a couple-one when I was very young, and one at my sister's wedding. So I'll just post the one you may have already seen. It's a good one.
Happy Birthday, Grammy! I hope they have cake and ice cream in Heaven!
Love,
Karin
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