ذكريات أمي عن جدتها

اعتاد جدي أن يخبرني أن أمي وجدتي الكبرى كانتا قريبتين. الجدة العظمى يمكن أن تكون عنيدة جدا, so Grandpa used to send Mom to talk to her about going to the doctor, الخ. I will let Mom tell you about her grandmother in her own words.

Caroline better known as Lee was a woman before her time. In a period when most women wanted to be stay at home Mom’s and be subservient to their husbands my Grandma was a rebel. When Grandma and Grandpa decided they wanted to get married both her parents and his parents were against it. كانت الجدة ألمانية وكان الجد أيرلنديًا, وأراد الوالدان أن يتزوجوا من جنسيتهم. Grandma being who she was married William anyway. I remember her telling me that before she married my Grandpa; لقد أوضحت له أنه لن يضربها أبدًا. (Apparently at that period of our history it was an acceptable practice.) لكن, لم يكن مقبولا لجدتي. وفي كلماتها لوليام "في مرحلة ما، سوف تضطر إلى النوم. I will tie your arms and legs to the bed post and beat the holy hell out of you.” لو عاش جدي لفترة أطول, أنا متأكد من أنه كان لدينا بعض القصص الرائعة.

Lee didn’t like to cook or clean, but she loved to go out and to travel with her girlfriends. أخبرتني أنه عندما كان والدي في الأكاديمية العسكرية كانت تخرج لتناول العشاء مع صديقاتها, كانت ترسل لأبي المال ليحصل على آيس كريم صودا عندما يذهب إلى المدينة. It was important to her that he knew she cared. عندما كان أبي في الثامنة من عمره تقريبًا, they lived across the street from the Lutheran church they belonged to. لم تكن الجدة من الحضور المنتظمين ولكنها اعتقدت أن أبي يجب أن يكون كذلك. She told me that one Sunday she just didn’t feel like going to church, لذلك أخبرت أبي أن الكنيسة كانت مزدحمة للغاية, لكنه كان بحاجة للذهاب. She stood on the porch to make sure he got there safely. Dad went in the church, عاد للخارج, وصاح عبر الشارع “Mommy, there is a lot of room”. She never used that excuse again.

Grandma was a great seamstress and a career woman. لقد صنعت لي ولأختي العديد من الملابس المتطابقة, but she always sewed them completely by hand. Her stitches were so even that it looked like they were done on a machine. When I was in my 30’s I worked in the garment industry for a few years. There were seamstress’s that still remembered my Grandma. She was the type of woman that wasn’t easy to forget.

When I lived in Illinois, my parents would put me on a Greyhound bus and send me to St. لويس. Grandma would meet me at the bus station. She took me to fancy restaurants, أفلام, shopping excursions. We took the bus to get there, لكننا عادةً ما نستقل سيارة أجرة إلى المنزل لأنه كان لدينا الكثير لنحمله.

عندما كنت في الثالثة عشرة من عمري، كانت إحدى هدايا عيد ميلادي عبارة عن صندوق بطاقات الوصفات. الآن 55 years later I still use it and think of her with love.

One of my fondest memories was my Grandma taking me to the Lowe’s State Theater to see Irma La Dolce starring Shirley McClain. أخبرتني أنني لا أستطيع أن أخبر والدي أنها أخذتني إلى هذا الفيلم, أو لن يسمحوا لي بزيارتها مرة أخرى. I had no idea what I was going to see, but if it was “forbidden” it must be good. جيد, رأيت الفيلم, but I was very naive and had no idea what it was about. Years later I figured out it was about prostitutes. I never did tell mom and dad that Grandma took me to see it. It was OUR secret.

Grandma introduced me to horse racing, slot machines, poker, سلة, والخمور. She was quite a lady.

يعلقون عليه