Our Grandmothers are also Special on Mother's Day

Grandmas, G-Maws, Nanas, or Grandmothers... whatever you call them...they are special. And on Mother’s Day, it too is their special day.

Although I never had a chance to know either of my grandfathers, I did get to spend a little time with both my grandmothers before they left this earth. 

One grandmother, my Dad’s mother, I’ve written about before in a previous blog.. http://ireadthenews.blogspot.com/2011/11/over-river-and-thru-woods-to-grandmas.html .

 We didn’t talk much since she didn’t speak a word of English. She owned a bar over on the West Side of Dayton, Ohio and every weekend Dad and I would drive over to the bar and I would watch while sitting on my perch on a bar stool drinking my “Roy Rodgers” as Dad slipped her a wad of cash to help her along the way. 

She later came to live with us, which was the normal thing to do back in those days. Heck, I don’t even think nursing homes had even been invented yet. Parents came and lived with their sons and daughters until they failed to wake up the next morning.

My Mom’s, mom, we all called Nana. She was a little feisty, and lived with my Aunt Bab’m, a nickname for my Mom’s sister. They lived together in a small, white frame house only a few houses away from my childhood friend, “The Jer”, who I have also written about many times. Aunt Bab’m and “The Jer” got along well enough but Bab’m always would say to “The Jer”, “ I’ve got your number, buddy”, and “The Jer” would just kind of shy away. Bab’m would smile and give him a hug. 

Me and Nana fishing at Grand Lake in Celina, Ohio

Nana didn’t do much except sit and knit, at least when I knew her. She grew up in what I always thought was a mansion at the corner of Ridge  Ave and Main Street next to Winters Bank that served as both their residence and a funeral home, at least I think that is the story. 

My Dad moonlighted as a undertaker there in order to get a chance to spend more time with mom, his future bride. One of the stories that is now fractured by the test of time is that Nana had some relatives named Okla and Homa, named after the great state where I would later attend college. Also, there was a story that Mom was named after a small town north of Lubbock, Tx. called Idalou where some other relative drove cattle....who knows, but I like to tell it . 

About the only memory of Nana away from the house was the occasional trips to Grand Lake north of Dayton. Nana taught me to cast my fishing rod and untangle the bird’s nest I often ended up with my casting reel.  She also was the one who encouraged Dad to let me have a casting rod and reel and not a kid’s ole’ bamboo pole. She also taught me to bait my hooks and how to hold a catfish without getting gorged  by a horn.

It’s funny how now after more than 60 some years I remember those times. It makes me appreciate Mother’s Day a heck of a lot more and makes me smile as I remember growing up.