I think I am pretty lucky to have had involved grandparents during the 38 years of my life. Yesterday, my last grandparent passed away - whew that’s a tough sentence to type. Thirty eight years of always having a back up if mom and dad didn’t give me the answer I wanted, thirty eight years of stopping in unannounced for a good conversation and thirty eight years of another partner in crime to have an adventure alongside.
And life with my Grandma Tootie was always an adventure!
As a little girl and the only granddaughter, I remember spending many one-on-one days with my grandma. One of her favorite adventures was to take me to department store perfume counters. Most people would try one or two, but when I went with my grandma we tried evvvery perfume - a spritz on one side of the neck, then another scent on the other side. Pair those up with two other samples on each wrist and I was walking out of those stores smelling like a ten cent….well, ya know😉...but feeling like a million bucks smiling and laughing with my grandma. She’d scrunch her nose and tell the clerk if one was awful and then spray me with more when we found one we liked. She never knew a stranger; she would try to get other customers to try a scent too. I’m pretty sure they all politely decline as they held their breath walking quickly to different department. But, oh we would just be giggling away with not a care in the world. We sure did make our presence known.
Summers during middle school meant Friday garage sale trips with grandma. My mom would give me $10 and grandma and I would spend Thursday evening circling ads and mapping out which sales we’d hit and when to maximize our time - way before online market places and gps! After a morning wheeling and dealing, I’d come home with the biggest smile, super proud of all the great deals, while grandma grinned ear to ear next to me as I explained my plan for each purchased item. As a parent, I now believe grandma was smiling because she knew the “buy of the century” was staying at my parents’ house and not going back home with her. But oh the fun we had without spending much more than $10, the cost of lunch, and time.
Grandma Tootie spent many hours in cars driving to any one of my cousins’ or mine sporting events, dance recitals, music concerts, awards ceremonies, graduation commencement...you name an activity we were a part of and I guarantee she was there. It didn’t matter if it was the same elementary school musical program year after year or a Masters’ class performance. It didn’t matter if all the little six year olds were chasing the ball down the court or we were cheering for a state championship. And whether we were showing our fair animals or if our graduation was states away, she was ready to get in the car and sit in the bleachers to watch her grandkids. She showed up, bought some popcorn, and was leading our cheering section.
During college, I always enjoyed coming home on the weekends and stopping in at Grandma and Grandpa’s to hear her whistle or talk to herself as I entered the house. She’d stop everything to say, “Oh Katie, what have you been up to?! Tell me everything!” and spend an hour around her table listening to my stories and making me feel like I was the only one in the world.
And now with my own little family - each who she has held shortly after they were born, attended their games and dance recitals, and added their photos to her refrigerator - I’ll miss having her around to continue sharing our family holiday traditions. At any given family function we’d play nickels with pennies she saved for everyone to use while trying to find one full set of cards that wasn’t just a euchre deck. Easter brought dollar store kites that ended up tied to the back of a ranger for those family members not so inclined to run when there wasn’t a breeze. Or the fun on Halloween when neighbors all over the countryside would stop in to have her try and guess who each kid was and take their photo then send them off with more candy and treats than one bag could hold. And the fun guessing game at Christmas as we opened our gifts packaged perfectly inside old cereal and popcorn boxes having her be as surprised as you since she either didn’t remember what she bought you or didn’t know what you bought yourself on her behalf.
Oh but the stories of these traditions we can share with our children and pass on through photos and video of what it was like to grow up with a grandmother named Tootie who always let her presence be known, didn’t need to spend much to have a good time, showed up no matter when or where, and was always ready to know what was happening in her grandchildren’s lives.
We’re all thankful for the years we had with her and to have been raised with a grandma full of adventure.
❤️kte
