We call my maternal grandmother "Granny". Everyone does--her kids, sons- and daughters-in-law, grandkids and great-grandkids.
She's an interesting woman who had a hard life as an adult. She's the 2nd youngest of (I think) 9 kids in a Polish-Catholic family. She has told stories of how she sang vaudeville when she was just 4 or 5 while her older sister played the piano.
As an adult, she married a man who was about 10 years older than she was. He died in his sleep of a heart ailment when my mom was just 5, my uncle was 2 and she was unknowingly pregnant with my aunt. She latter married a man whom she met in a bowling alley's bar and ended up divorcing him after several years. She worked as a bank teller and eventually got to work at the airport's international center doing currency exchange. She brought home lots of foreign coins for me.
She used to sing a song that I thought she made up...
I love you
A bushel and a peck,
A bushel and a peck,
A-a-a-a-a-and a hug around the neck!
Doo dee, doo dee, doo dee,
Doo dee, doo dee, doo dee,
Doo dee, doo dee, doo dee DOOOO!
Imagine my surpise when I went to see the musical Guys and Dolls with my husband and they started singing that song!!
She stayed with us for a little while and made her bedroom on the enclosed front porch (out of which my parents moved to sleep on a hide-a-bed in the living room). I have fond memories of sitting in her bed watching the Rockford Files and eating Rocky Road ice cream.
She had a problem with drinking when she was at family parties (she didn't drink in my parents' home) and she was pretty mean as a drunk and would say some hurtful things. When she moved to be closer to my parents, she no longer had the opportunity to drink and was pretty well-behaved (for the most part).
Within the last 8 years or so, she has started to decline. Alzheimer's disease. She's had her delusions and the memory-loss is pretty evident. But, for now, she still recognizes all of us. That's good. It's going to be hard to explain to my kids when Granny starts asking them who they are. I've been trying to prep them a little, though.
Even with all of her quirks, I still love my Granny. A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
G is for Granny!!
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3 comments:
I sing that song to my two-year-old all the time, but we sing it as I learned it:
I love you
A bushel and a peck
A bushel and a peck
and a hug around the neck.
A hug around the neck
and a barrel and a heap
A barrel and a heap and I'm talkin' in my sleep
About you!
What's cute is when my two-year-old, who's barely talking, tries to sing the words.
Isn't it amazing how songs bring back memories?
Very cool! I've never heard that version. Thanks for sharing that! Yep, songs can bring you right back. Amazing.
I love my gramma too! She's 75 and still trucking along like a young'un. What a fun memory you've got!
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