Thursday, May 29, 2008

My Sweet Grandmother

My sweet great grandmother passed away this morning and I am a bit nostalgic and weepy this morning. I kind of wanted to write a bit about her and what she meant to me, so if you are this far and are vomiting in your mouth stop reading now.

Karma lived in Ogden, in the cutest little duplex, the entirety of my life. I remember going over there and helping with puzzles that lay on her coffee table, then pasting them onto cardboard and finding any space on a wall in her cement basement. There must have been over a hundred puzzles hanging on the walls. Then we would turn on the record player and put I Don't Want a Ricochet Romance on so it filled the basement and our ears. While one of us was on the little dancing board the other of my sisters would sing and laugh and dance around. After complete exhaustion we would gather some ice cream out of her deep freezer and sit outside and listen to the creek as we ate.

Snake weed grows in the creek and so we would have boat races down it to see whose hit the drain first. We also would get in it and float down when we were still small and the water seemed so deep. And every week a man would come and clean out the drain and pile the wreckage on the cement beside it. It was fascinating to watch.

Grandma had a huge doll collection which included not only porcelain dolls but classics like Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, and even Mr. T. We were allowed to play with some of them but only with Karma looking on and if we put them back in her doll cabinet. In that same room was an organ that you could run a song through and it would light up the keys when you were suppose to push certain note. The faster you pushed, the faster the accompaniment would go, so it would speed up and slow down. I thought I was pretty hot stuff and would make my grandmothers listen from the other room as I whipped my way through the entirety of her music library.

Until today I had two great grandmothers living and all my grandparents. No death has immediately effected me and so I am a novice at this. I miss her greatly already and its silly because I only saw her on occasion. One thing it does though, is make me appreciate the time I have with the ones I love, so cliche, and yet so true. The big picture always becomes more focused when such events happen, and living life to the fullest becomes a reborn quest. I only hope that one day my cd player will be the symbol of a deep relationship with my grandchildren as that old record player was for my great grandmother, Karma, and me.

2 comments:

Freddie Paul said...

Melanie - my sympathies are with you and your family.

One of my great treasures are the video-recordings and photos of my grandparents (all are deceased except for one fortunately stubborn grandfather – he’s only 98). A few years ago I took a little handheld video recorder and asked him sorts of question – like what it was like to date in 1930’s - which then got him to bring out old photos from when he and my grandmother were dating and other bits of nostalgia. Over those few hours I learned more about my grandparents than I had in an entire lifetime. My greatest treasure is the video of grandparents wedding – which I guess was pretty rare for 1940.

So when you and Mr. So and So have kids be sure to smile for the camera thus one day you and your grandkids, and even great-grandkids, can look back at the photos and smile….

perhaps this weekend you could listen to “I Don't Want a Ricochet Romance” and have some ice cream –

Be well,

Nachelle said...

So sweet, grandparents are the best, I didn't know any of my great and all of my grandparents have passed away now, but the memories I have with them are some of my most precious. My prayers and thoughts are with you, love ya!