Hi Could be…. This is a great thread! I loved hearing about your days on the farm with grandma and how you felt so loved. I’m sorry you didn’t get to attend her funeral (((CB))). I didn’t get to see my grandmother much as a young child. I would talk to her on the phone and see her on holidays and for a week or two in the summer. We lived 800 miles from her . I always knew she loved me. I was the second of seven grandchildren, and the first granddaughter she had. She made every dress I wore until I was in the 4th grade and stopped wearing dresses.
I was hospitalized as a teenager and my doctor would not release me back to my parents. Arrangements had been made for me to go to a foster home. I met the couple I would be living with while in the hospital. My grandmother found out and had a fit. She wouldn’t hear of it. They told her I was on drugs, that didn’t sway her. They told her I was too difficult for her to handle. She argued that she could handle me just fine. She hounded my parents, called my doctor, and sent a one way plane ticket for me to come live with her.
When Mammaw took me in she was in the middle of a very happy retirement. She had bridge and canasta parties, she was very active in her church, taught Sunday School, sang in the choir and had many friends and activities. She made quilts and baked and had dinners for her friends. When I think back to that time, I’m still amazed at her. She wasn’t taking in well adjusted teenager. I was messed up, and she knew it and insisted that she wanted me to live with her.
She met me at the airport and took me home. The next day she took me shopping for clothes and enrolled me in school. She was so concerned about me. Every time she would ask me questions, I would cry. The words just wouldn’t come.
Not to long after I moved in with Mammaw, my mother called. She told me she had given away my dog Nikki. Nikki had been my best friend. He was the only dog I had while growing up, and I had him for less than a year. Mom had promised me she wouldn’t give him away. I was devastated. A few days later Mammaw dropped me off at school and when I came home there was a Pomeranian at the house. She said now I know this isn’t Nikki, but maybe you will grow to love her as much. The thing that made such an impression on me was that I knew Mammaw didn’t like dogs. She never had any animals in her house. She would never mistreat an animal, she just wasn’t an animal lover. She was right, I did grow to love that little dog just as much. As time went on, I calmed down. Mammaw had such faith in me and was so good to me. She loved me and I knew it and I didn’t want to disappoint her. I lived with her for several years. During that time she supported me fully. She never received a dime of support for me from my parents and never complained about not receiving it. We lived off of her retirement.
She’s 94 years old now and has been living with me for a year and a half. She came home today after being in a convalescent center for a few weeks for physical therapy. She’s feeling better now than she was right after her fall. She’s still weak, but glad to be home. I will always be grateful for having a Mammaw that loves me so much.
