Join

 Nan was always watching out for her grandson when he was a little kid.Here is the funny party. Nan didn't actually meet this particular grandson until he was 16 years old. We will call him Mr. P.

So how did she watch out for him if they hadn't met?

Well, he only lived a few blocks away from her, right near the doctor's office. They went to the same church. He played in the neighborhood with the kids in the streets. even though he didn't know they were his actual cousins. You see, her grandson was adopted by some friends of his mother's and Nan respected that arrangement, even if it meant keeping unbearable quiet when all she wanted to do was hug and kiss her grandson.

Nan respected the fact that some other family was caring for her grandchild and didn't dare to get in the way of that situation. So thee was that one day that her grandson was playing on the front steps on their Main Street home with one of his Dachshund dogs, Hansel. Nan pulled up in her blue Buick and was meant to go to the doctor's office a few doors down. There was her grandson, maybe all of 7 years old, whom she had never met. Can you imagine? The strength it must've taken to not just reach out and shout "Hey child, I'm your grandma!"

Nan began to cry quietly. The little boy didn't notice, he was too focused on his dog. Nan drove away and cancelled her appointment that day. 

Then there was every Sunday in church. Nan would watch as her grandson sat between his two Dads in the second row from the altar on the right. She sat somewhere in the middle or back but always near the aisle. Her grandson would either sleep or be incredibly restless in his seat, looking around everywhere, talking, pointing at all things. He had ants in his pants if he wasn't knocked out cold. Every time her grandson would walk out of the church with his Dads, Nan would wait until he passed and say "God bless you" while nodding her head and smiling. Her grandson didn't think anything of it. Loads of older people would smile and greet him. He and his Dads were a bit of a peculiar sight in the Catholic Church.

Like his aunt, her grandson would become quite a traveler. After they finally met when he was in high school, he would call her and the first question she would ask would be: "Where are you?" and he would respond with some exotic location around the globe. Thailand, Serbia, Kenya, Brazil Nan would then take a second to "AHHH" at whichever distant locale her grandson found himself in.

They only got a few years together but her grandson would always be grateful for those little visits at her apartment in their home town. She would slip him candies and being the strongest woman he had ever met. He still shows her picture to his friends and brags about his grandmother, the family matriarch he almost never knew.

Church is great!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Overload

 As Nan was getting a divorce from a 25 year marriage of physical, mental and verbal abuse she never dreamed things could get worse. She moved into a two bedroom apartment from a 14 room home with the two remaining children under 16. There was a little child support from her ex-husband, a $2 an hour job to meet her new commitments. The youngest child, a girl, would get dressed walk to school, then not go in to her room, she was 12. Every other day the school would call the apartment and quiz Nan on the whereabouts of her child. She was in the grasp of a pimp dealing her out for $2 a trick. Nan discovered this horrendous situation and immediately sent her to live in Seattle with her older brother, his wife and son. By this time she was 13 and pregnant. Nan paid for the abortion, scraping together extra money for medical care, food also a little something to help pay for food and lodging in Seattle. The Pimp found out where she was shipped off to and went to bring her back to his slu...
Read more

Runaway

 We headed to the Jersey shore to share a weekly rental with friends. There were 11 children in the station wagon and Nan. There were no seatbelt mandates in 1954. It was not until 1964 they were in American cars. It is 85 miles to Ocean City, New Jersey from our home. Roadside rest areas were few and far between. We played "I Spy" and other car games for the two hour drive. We pulled up to the beach at 10am and rushed with our towels to the edge of the water. Within two minutes we were all called back to the car to help carry chairs, umbrellas, snacks, drinks, floats and boards to our spot. Every child over 7 had the responsibility of attaching themselves to a child under 7.  I had it easy, Richard fell asleep in the car and was ready to play in the surf. He was 3 1/2 years old and very rarely left my side. It was two o'clock and that was time to head to the boardwalk for the afternoon ice cream cone. We held hands, avoided the sea gulls, and sang "I am a little tea...
Read more

Do It

 We are responsible for our own actions. There was no sugar coating what we needed to do to fulfill our programs we advocated for in daily activities. I chose to be a girl scout, to be a part of a group, laugh and giggle while making new friends. At home Nan gave us chores every week, she did not nag us to do them we knew that we owned it and it make her life less hectic if just gave a little help from time to time. Our girl scout troop wanted each girl to sell 50 boxes. I could have gone to my aunts, uncles, neighbors and family friends. That was the easy way out. Nan got a card table, one chair, 50 boxes of cookies and a cardboard sign with a green shamrock on it. We drove to a busy corner in the middle of downtown of our small community. She dropped me off with the table, chair, sign, cookies and $5 in quarters. In those days a box of girl scout cookies were $.75. She knew I would need change. I put on a uniform, hat and sash before I entered the car. I shouted,"Cookies, come a...
Read more