How many of us grandkids can finish this chorus thanks to Grandma? Skidda merrinky dinky dink……. And I’m sure many of us can also say that we had our first sip of coffee at her house too; she loved having us spend the night. She could never babysit just one grandchild, if she had to babysit one she would immediately drive to another one of her children’s homes and picked up their kids as well. She was definitely onto something with that, she never truly had to babysit as we’d all entertain each other. Sometimes she’d take us all to the pond, but we never seemed to have swimsuits (as half of us had been picked up spontaneously). Not that Grandma minded, she’d always tell us, “You don’t need a swimsuit, just swim in your underwear!” I don’t recall how our mother’s felt about that (or perhaps they didn’t know), but there are incriminating photos to prove that many of us did just that.
Most people have memories of their grandmother’s cooking, but by the time we all came along she’d already spent 20+ years in the kitchen. I don’t think I ever saw her bake, ever. But she always had a cabinet stocked with Chips Ahoy or Oreos and she would pull them out with a smile and joke that they were fresh from the oven. Ramen Noodles, one would hardly call that cooking, but just the smell of them and I’m transported back to her sun-room, sitting around the lunch table with my cousins, slurping from a steaming bowl. She would always cut and peel apples for our lunch as well, and one time she peeled a potato and snuck it onto the plate. Seth and Zach were fighting over the last piece, and I believe Seth won the battle, but Zach and Grandma had the last laugh. Since we’re on the subject of food and her jokes, here’s one she told a few times: “How do you turn anything into a vegetable?” “Throw it up in the air, and voila, squash.”
When I think back, it’s a small wonder that none of us girls work in retail-sales considering the countless hours we spent in her basement buying and selling Shaklee products and playing “store”. Speaking of Shaklee, we all have strong bones and teeth because she would always let us eat the protein bars off the shelf – to us they might as well have been candy bars.
How many of you remember the year she bought Christmas gifts, wrapped them all up and then put the name tags on them? Inevitably many of the tags were mixed up and some of the boys received baby dolls and the girls received toy cars. I distinctly remember receiving a baby’s playmat, so that had to have been Zachs. After that she started taking us all to see Disney on Ice as our Christmas present. I can’t say for sure how many years we went, but they were certainly a highlight and the memories lasted far longer than any toy ever could; she was ahead of her time in that way.
Even in her later years, she never lost her sense of humor or her mischief. I know we can all remember a time when we weren’t entirely sure she was following the conversation, or even paying attention, and then she’d turn to you and give you some snappy remark. If you ever had the pleasure of escorting her to Bingo, you surely heard this reply when asking her where she’d like to sit, “On my bottom of course!” Speaking of Sunnyview, none of the single employees were safe when Barb was around. Some of us grandchildren were very well aware of Grandma’s matchmaking attempts, others perhaps not so much. The grandsons were easy targets as most of the employees are female, but she was an equal opportunity matchmaker. On more than one occasion she embarrassed me by asking me to push her down the hall so she could find someone, and low and behold, she was trying to introduce me to another one of her physical therapists! The worst was when the poor guy had to kindly explain that a match just wasn’t possible as he was already engaged. These sorts of incidents never perturbed her… Another one of the therapists moved away before I got a chance to meet him in person and I’m not sure she ever forgave me for not making more of an effort.
Grandma was a gem and will surely be missed. She always told me that “home is where you go when there’s no place else to go” and now she’s truly home. She was ready to go, and we were never going to be ready...
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