About Grandma Babe!

I have been thinking quite a bit lately about my paternal grandmother, Grandma Babe.  Actually, I can't seem to get her off my mind and have even had several dreams about her.  Of course, I suppose that is because her would-be-birthday was at the end of April.  And, as it goes, several other things have happened that just keeps reminding me of her.  I was given her wedding band some time ago and wear it often.  My oldest son saw it the other day as he has seen it on me many times and asked me about it.  I told him about her and then we looked at a picture of her.  I have been trying to explain that she is Papa's mom, but as it goes with most kids, he does not register that grandparents have parents too.  They actually see my maternal grandmother several times a year and don't seem to register that it is my mom's mother.  She is Grandma Belle, and that is just the way it is.  I think they think that grandparents have just always been there and how they fit into the scheme of things is not important. 
I spent an enourmous amount of time with my grandmother growing up and have very vivid memories of her house, her clothes,  and the things we did together. Grandma Babe was a fabulous cook which is probably where I got my love for eating.  She felt that I needed to eat constantly and spent most of the time I was there cooking or grocery shopping so she could cook some more.  Also, she and my step-grandfather (I was never blessed enough to know my real grandfather, as he died long before I was born) had a huge garden in their backyard that they religiously tended to.  I am sure that almost every vegtable that I ate at her house came from that garden! And, her house is where I learned about sugar!!! If I was not eating food she cooked, she was bringing me cookies, homemade vanilla pudding (nothing else compares), oreos (her cookie of choice), vanilla ice cream drowned in chocolate syrup, honey drenched toast cut into squares or Hershey Kisses, she would just hand me the bag! There were very few times I went there that I did not leave with a stomach ache or was throwing up, but God knows it was so worth it.  She is also the person who introduced me to cards (Skipbow in particular) and romance novels!  Every night I stayed with her, I crawled into bed next to her and she would read well into the night some of her well-loved smut novels.  If she ever saw me without one, she would get up, go through her stash and bring me one to read on for the night.  I never got far, the words were too big and the books were thick, but I loved that she shared them with me.  I would fall to sleep with her still reading, and she always woke up well before me, was dressed, had the house cleaned and ready to cook a huge breakfast including eggs, bacon, toast and chocolate milk (how I did not come away with seriously clogged arteries, I will never know)! After breakfast, we always made a trip out to the backyard where she discreetly placed her read newspaper in between the slats of the back fence.  It was years before I finally learned that one of the ladies that lived behind her did not have money for the daily paper, so she always placed it there for her to come and get.  In all of that time, I never questioned why she did it, and she never offered to explain as I am sure she wanted to be respectful of the other lady.  It was just her routine, and I never questioned it! After that, we would usually water the garden and then take another trip to the gorcery store for, yes you guessed it, more food!  Of course, we had to be back in order to make her Soap programs which I did get hooked on for a bit of my childhood! She loved her afternoon lineup, and I sat, with food, and watched quietly!  Then, it was time to get dinner ready!  We ate dinner, then dessert followed by the cleaning of dishes which was usually done by hand. There was a dishwasher, an ancient one, that actually had to be moved to the middle of the kitchen and hooked to the sink. So washing by hand actually saved time!  Not that I would fathom using it ever, but I would give anything to have that crazy dishwaher now just to sit in my house somewhere! That was the weekly routine give or take a trip to the nearby museum or the McDonald's across the street ("Just not a real hamburger," she would say)! And of course, church on Sunday.  She went, without fail, each week to her very tiny church and listened intently only breaking her concentration to ask me if she needed a Cert, the one item you would always find in her purse (she was very concerned about having fresh breath)!
I always enjoyed spending time there, she was kind and always smiling, and I love that I was able to grow up around her, but I wish that I had learned more about her and her earlier years.  I am sad to say that by the time I was old enough to appreciate her life, she was unable to communicate with me.  Though I have lots of wonderful memories of her, I actually know very little about her life before my childhood.  For whatever reason, at the present, memories are weighing on my heart, and the dreams have kept coming for weeks now, so I thought I would write a small note about her. Below is one of the last pictures I have of her.  I was unable to scan it, so I took a picture of the picture and downloaded it.  It is not as clear as I would like, but it is a good picture of her!