My first memory of Grammy was of her arriving in her little green “Grammy Green” as we called it, diesel VW rabbit with ice cream. From then on I just assumed all grandmothers brought ice cream when they came to visit.

 

 

She told us grandkids stories about doing so well in school that she skipped 3rd grade.

I’m sad that there are no childhood photos of her. None.

 

Grammy and Grampy are the two on the left. He was the best dancer at the USO so she knew he was a keeper.

 

At 50 something she earned her bachelors degree and then went on to earn a masters. She loved doing crossword puzzles. Preferred the New York times puzzle.

She was quite the artist and wanted to teach me the right way to draw at age 4 but I drew stick figures and preferred to make smears of color on the page. She’d get a bit lecture-y at times so I’d just wait until she’d hand me all her crayons or colored pencils and some of her high quality drawing paper and she’d go back to reading or doing crossword puzzles.

She was about the coolest Gramma you could ask for. She took me to calligraphy class when I needed a ride. She drove like Richard Petty and had an amazing way of getting out of tickets.

She was well read and had a vocabulary that could build bridges or burn ‘em down.

 

She spent her last few years in the living room at the edge of all the coming and going of daily household life.

Over time her stories got more jumbled and blended with others.

She’d forget things from five minutes ago, which was a very good thing if you’d just been given four or five Irish curses. You just had to walk out of the room, take a deep breath and come back talking about something different and all would be forgotten.

 

 

 

A lot of things may have changed over the years but her love for ice Cream was not one of them!

 

 

 

She loved going out for ice cream.

 

 

She liked to get a Neapolitan.

 

 

There was never a wrong time to eat ice cream.

 

 

Not Ever.

 

 

 

She was one of the motivators for me to a get a better camera and take more photos.

She always preached finding your talents and developing them. Though to her art did not have anything to do with that black box I kept holding up to my face.

 

 

 

 

Some favorite lines of hers that we still use and smile every time we  say them:

 

“You should start a restaurant in New York.” When ever someone has made a dish you really like.

 

“You can’t leave an odd number of cookies on a plate.” When you are justifying eating one more cookie.

 

“Don’t take NO for an answer.”

 

 

We miss you Grammy.

 

~PN