When I was skiing the other day I suddenly had thoughts of my Grandmother. She would have turned 114 on February 4th if she were still alive. Grandma honey, was a great person to have as a grandmother. She was a tough, but tender, and loving woman. She would do anything for her friends and family!
When she still lived in Boston I remember going to her house. In my mind I can still see my grandparents house. It was large with a down stairs apartment and then their part of the house on the second floor and then on the third floor another apartment. In the down stairs apartment lived my grandfather’s sister Hedwig and her husband Albert. What I remember most about them was Hedwig’s fabulous cooking. It seemed she always had cookies and hot cocoa when I would sneak down the back stairway to visit her.
The middle floor was my grandparents part of the house. It was very large with a screened porch in the front, a phone on a table in the hallway, and then a big living room which led into a large dining room with a bay window, I often sat there looking out of the windows. This led into a kitchen with an old fashioned pantry. I loved this little room because I could climb up on the counter and find cookies. (yes, I admit, I am a cookie monster!)
Off the kitchen was a hallway that led to a big bathroom, and then my grandparent’s bedroom next to that. I remember going into their bedroom in the early morning and climbing into bed with them for cuddles. Papa Fred and Grandma Honey really loved their grandchildren.
Upstairs was where my uncle, his wife and their two kids lived. Originally this was where my mother and uncle had their rooms when they were kids. When we stayed there I would sleep in my cousin’s room.
But Papa had a heart attack and the doctors wanted them to sell the house and move to a one level . So they moved down to Cape Cod, near us and bought a little two bedroom ranch house.
I would run through the woods between our house and theirs and sleep over at Grandma and Papa’s. They would watch “Lawrence Welk, and I would watch them. Papa would gently hold Grandma’s feet in his lap. He would rub them, and she sat there, with an afghan over her lap, smiling at him and the music would play.
She would make us the best warm milk around. We had the whole milk (from a glass bottle. Fresh and whole!), honey and then a dot of real butter. Trust me, it was wonderful. Her hot chocolate was fabulous too!
I felt so safe in her arms, in her lap and I always loved having her as my grandma. Sadly, my other grandmother died when I was in third grade, so I never had a chance to know her the way I knew Grandma Honey.
I moved in with her at the age of eleven, and I lived in their house until I was 17, nearly 18 years old. She lived until I was 26 years old, and then passed from this world. But, my memories are good, and the impression she made on me will be with me for the rest of my life
