I finished a book today in which a fairly minor character had a fairly major impact on my thoughts today. She was a large, feisty woman who loved God, loved to laugh and loved to "visit" with all who crossed her threshold. She went weekly to the rummage sale held in the basement of an old church and picked out scraps of fabric with which to make rag rugs. She reminded me of my grandmother. The woman and the rugs; Mama made those too. I kept thinking how I wish I'd had her show me how.
Odd times, certain things will bring her to mind - like these rugs or the canned plums I'd preserved this summer. I'd never done them before but the moment I took the first bite, she came straight to mind. Mom said the same thing when I handed her a jar. For me, it was the reminder of the plums my sisters and I picked from the tree at our Scenic Drive house that Mama collected from us and made into jam. I couldn't have been more than twelve then, but that taste has stuck in my mind as a memory of her.
Like Tetley tea and white bread with butter and brown sugar. Like peas on toast or soft french toast with icing sugar. Chocolate macaroons or thimble cookies with jam spooned into the fingerprint pressed in the centre of each one. Like biscuits brought to Thanksgiving dinner in a cookie tin lined with waxed paper. Like pickled beets and whole tomatoes eaten like an apple with a sprinkling of salt on each bite. There are reminder smells and sights that bring her to mind too but these are the tastes I go looking for when I want a good remembering.
Mama and I used to swap books all the time. We'd each read the book ahead of time before we gave it to the other for a gift. I think she would have really enjoyed this one; it has a character in it I'm sure she would have loved.
Little Ray of Sunshine
6 years ago
Oh my soul. Precious. Emily cried last night because she missed her :(
ReplyDeleteYou've captured my memories exactly.
I have the same thoughts and similar memories about my Grandma. The three of us sisters miss her so much. Different things will bring her to mind, like you've described. Often we'll say, wouldn't Grandma Ruby have loved this? Like Wendy's birthday. Her name was mentioned so often, her spirit was well represented!
ReplyDeleteI think the beauty in the lives lived like our grandmothers is the fact that the simplest of things bring to mind the beauty of who they were.
My grandma was not perfect, but I think that was also such a great thing. It gives me hope. She used to think her life was so small, but she changed our 3 lives forever, along with many others.
It does sound silly but when it's all said and done for me, I think the greatest honour will be when people think of me wistfully, that my memory brings a smile, and that those closest to me know how much I loved them. In that way, she succeeded to bring this big, huge world down to the simplest place for me.
And in this big, huge world love was the motivation.
Aren't you glad you even had the privilege of knowing ANYONE who coud do that?
Oh, auntie Holly...Please don't make me cry before Thanksgiving! While I was reading that, I was having memories from when I would go to her house and see the hammer hanging from her light because she couldn't reach it! Oh...and the cookies and love and funny stories...just makes me cry! And every time we pass her house we slowly whisper, "Greatmama's house." And then look at it all spoofed up and new with someone else living in it who doesn't know what amazing memories were held there.
ReplyDelete-See you I Think Monday Girl.