Bear with me. This post is mostly for my own posterity’s sake. I had some good times remembering with my mom last week and thought it would be a good thing to document some of those memories. I spent lots of time at my Grandma Mary’s house growing up–at least every Friday when my mom and dad had their date night and Ash and I would get dropped off with our special treat of McDonald’s. (And yes, despite all those who warn against it, I still love McDonald’s.) So, most of these memories are from Grandma Mary and Grandpa Nick’s house.
- I vividly remember being a toddler, standing in the back of my grandparents’ living room and bouncing and singing along to Jeopardy theme song. (I still watch Jeopardy.)
- I once broke their sunroom window when, as a 12 year old, I pitched a plastic baseball to my cousin.
- Dad hung the coolest, biggest tire swing on the tallest tree in grandma’s backyard.
- I remember staying the night at grandma’s when my parents were out of town (I was about 5) and if there was a snow day and a couple feet on the ground, she would go out to the huge back yard with me and play “fox and goose.” (Making a huge circle in the snow with a big X through the middle and we chased one another.)
- My parents went to see Titanic in the theaters and I stayed with Ash at Gramma’s and watched Gone with the Wind. Throughout the extremely long film, my stomach kept hurting worse and worse and when mom came to get us I was taken to the hospital. I had gastroenteritis.
- Speaking of hospital visits, I had a lot of nosebleeds growing up. (I guess I still do.) One particular nose bleed occurred when I was sick with the stomach flu. The bleeding normally went on for 30-45 minutes (which I later found out was extraordinarily long…most should be 5-10 minutes) but when we hit the 2 hour mark, I was taken to ER to get it cauterized. Yeah, that was fun. Not so much. The worse part was having the packing removed (yanked out really…) 3 days later.
- I could eat a whole Big Mac meal as a 12 year old. Yeah, I was kinda chubby. I wonder why.
- Mom used to read with me in bed every night until my pre-teen years. We read Nancy Drew, Little House, Mandy books, and more. I love reading together. Still do. And I hope to do the same with our children.
- My grandpa always had a jar of gum drops next to his chair in the living room. My favorites were always white and green. Grams had these in her apt last week and I finished them off. :)
- Gramps also really liked those rainbow Neccos. Most people don’t even know what the quarter sized chalky candies are, but I liked them.
- He always wanted a strawberry milkshake from McDonald’s when we came over. Maybe that’s why strawberry is my favorite.
- Ash and I loved playing dress up in Grandma’s clothes and clip on earrings.
- We played many a rousing game of “hide it” with this tiny white dog figurine at gramma’s.
- I often pinched my fingers between the door and the bathroom counter. (poor design, I say.)
- Gramma taught Ash and I to play cards; Rummy was our favorite. (She once burst out into a song from the ’30s I think…”Jack, Jack, Jack douby, douby, douby.” who knows. But I’ll remember.)
- I loved her “rootbeer” flowers out back by the clothes line (where there was oftentimes freshly washed linens hung.) They were actually irises, but I thought they smelled like rootbeer.
- We watched Lawrence Welk together.
- I hated when she cooked cabbage. It smellllllled. :(
- Ashley could convince Grams to “tickle my back/legs” for hours on end. (She lightly ran her fingers around her back. I loved that too, but Ash always got what she wanted.) :)
- Before we went to sleep on a sleepover night, we always wanted to hear stories from Gramma of when our Daddy was growing up.
Ummm, I’m pretty sure I could go on and on, but I’ll spare you all. For now. :)
We’re really looking forward to camping out at SBC for family fall festival weekend. Fall camping is the best and so are birthday dinners out. (Man, our families get away easy…3 birthdays in 3 weeks…just combine the celebration! hee,hee!)
My mom’s all 21st century now. She’s emailed me many times since I left home having set her computer up with Chrome and gmail. I’m proud.
my favorite memory is when she’s feeling all sentimental, and I hear about it on a blog while on the fifth floor of the Science and Engineering Library. Gotta love the 21st century and electronic connected-ness. =D
Wow! Those are some wonderful memories. All that talk of McDonald’s and strawberry milkshakes has made me hungry now. ;-)I love Jeopardy, too! And my mom read to John and me when we were younger, too. The same series, too: Nancy Drew, Mandy, Boxcar Children…This is a good idea. Reminiscing is the best!
I don’t have the recipe, just the starter with instructions. Britt said she could give it to Nick to give to you this weekend if you want! I can email you the instructions too!
Great memories Mel. Grandma Mary would love to see those in a letter. Ash should see those, too.Love, Mom.dan.karen.fish@gmail.com
Yea for Mrs Fish! I can so see your mum sitting at a computer…:)PS The future tends to come faster than you think…;)