can you pass me a spare hankie my dear...

Oh my dear friends...
How generous you have all been...
You have opened your hearts and shared
moments that I know have been very emotional for you all...
Reading through the amazing comments I was finding
so many similarities with my own Grandma experiences...

And the memories that for some are not so
vivid or clear...
I have found that you are the ones that are making
changes in yourself
to make some special granny moments for
your own children and grandchildren...

I think sometimes my desire in all this granny goodness
is not only to remember the past
but to insure that it is passed on to my children...
To make their memories as beautiful as mine...

Deciding on a winner was extremely hard
for I do believe that every comment was conveying something personal...
But as I read through,
one in particular stood out...
For I do believe the even trying to read this comment to the end,
even on the third occasion to my husband,
I still found I couldn't do it without a hankie in hand...
Ok lets be honest...Bursting into tears...

Lola Nova...
Congratulations...
and for all my dears here is Lola's comment..
If you get through it without a hint of a sniffle...I will be amazed...


When I was young, I was rich in grannies. I had three.
So it is hard to think of just one granny moment. All of them were fantastic bakers.
Each had their own specialty. My most granny moments are when I bake.
Cookies: I think of Harriet.
Pies: my granny Midge.
Bread: grandma Alta.

When I was 8, I was dying to have my ears pierced.
I had begged my father for a year and he finally relented.
There was no one to take me and I thought it was the end of the world.
Then my grandma Midge volunteered,
she took me to a fancy department store where I suddenly lost my nerve.
She then sat herself on the stool and said, "I'm getting mine done."
Mind you she was well in her 60s and had never pierced her ears.
She smiled through the whole thing and said it was no big deal.
Up I went and had it done.
I was so inspired by my granny, that she would do this for me.
She told me years later that she was terrified
and had wanted to yell and cry because it hurt like the dickens but,
she couldn't let me see.

In my late teens, I had gone for a visit to see my grandma Alta.
I had gone outside to sneak a smoke and a beer and she caught me.
I thought she would give me such a tongue lashing.
Instead, she took a beer, asked for a smoke and said, "Don't tell grandpa."
We then sat in the dark listening to the crickets.
We talked a long time...about life I guess.
It remains one of the most meaningful conversations I have ever had.

Near the end, my grandmother Harriet "lost her marbles",
she forgot who we were,
she didn't know where she was and didn't know what year it was.
This was interrupted by occasional spells of lucidity.
During one of these, I found myself in
an incredibly profound conversation with her about dying.
She told me she was ready and that she had been lucky in this life.
She then asked me to sing to her,
"Will you sing me to sleep? I'm going to see my mama soon."
I wrapped my arms around her impossibly tiny body,
I held her like a babe in my arms (like she once held me).
I rocked her gently and sang old lullabies softly until she fell asleep.
It was the last lucid moment she would have...
a few days later she was gone
and I can not tell you how grateful I was to have that moment with her.

Sorry, didn't mean it to be so long.

Oh Lola...
What can I say...
Thank you!!!
From the bottom of my heart...