Mimi

It seems like everywhere I read these days someone is talking about their grandma. My own grandma has been on my mind quite a bit lately.

We always called my grandma "Mimi". She has been gone almost 12 years now. My 2 youngest children (soon to be 3) never got to meet her. That makes me sad. I remember so many things about Mimi. When I was fairly young Mimi's husband (we called him Popo) had a falling out with my parents. He was a man to hold a grudge so he stopped talking to or visiting us. Since my grandma didn't drive that meant she had to take the bus to see us. As a result, for most of my life, I only saw her once a year. She always sat in the seat right behind the driver so he could watch out for her.

 My grandma was an excellent seamstress and my mom didn't sew at all. We would set aside all the mending & sewing projects & Mimi would take care of it all for us while she was visiting. I have some doll clothes she made for me and it wasn't until I was an adult that I realized they were HAND sewn. No machine. And the stitches were so tiny & perfect & even. She was born at the turn of the century & girls were still taught useful skills then.  She sewed all of her own clothes & over the years made many outfits for her 3 granddaughters.

I remember before the falling out, my grandparents used to come stay with us for long visits, bringing their camper & Mimi always had a bag of mini Milky Way candy bars in the freezer. Mmmm.

 In my early 20's my parents & Popo made up & my grandparents moved only a few hours from us, so we saw them much more often. My oldest son was able to have a close relationship with his great-grandma & they were good friends. I have many pictures of the 2 of them together.

I think I miss her most around the holidays but that is normal isn't it? She always gave wonderful gifts, usually books. And she always sent a 2 pound box of See's chocolate. I've only had See's a few times in the years since she died. The first Christmas my husband & I were dating he gave me a copy of Robert Frosts poetry. I showed Mimi & she noticed that he hadn't written anything in it. She called him on that & he tried to shrug it off but she grabbed him by the hand, dug into her ever-present 25 lb purse, pulled out a pen & handed it to him. "Here's a pen", she said, forcing it into his hand. He wrote a very sweet inscription which I will always be thankful to Mimi for.

I loved my grandma & I miss her very much. She was the only extended family I had. I look forward to seeing her again some day.

Blessings.