Show and Tell Friday: My grandmother

Posted on by

show-and-tell.jpg Kelli at There’s No Place Like Home hosts the “Show and Tell Friday,” asking “Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, an antique find. Your show and tell can be old or new. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there’s a story behind your special something, that’s even better! If you would like to join in, all you have to do is post your “Show and Tell” on your blog, copy the post link, come over here and add it to Mr. Linky.“

My mother’s mother passed away when I was about four. A few weeks ago I was thinking about her and realizing how little I actually knew about her as a person, so I wrote to my my aunt, my mother’s sister, and asked her a bunch of questions about her.

I had forgotten about that until my aunt called me this morning (Thursday). Her voice was about the last I had expected to hear when I picked up the phone! We chatted for a while, catching up with various family members, and then she began to answer some of my questions about my grandmother. I had grabbed a pen and tablet of paper and was furiously trying to jot things down as she spoke.

I learned that “Memaw” had always been thin and had gone to college to become a P. E. teacher (somehow I didn’t inherit either of those genes, thinness or athleticism!) She left college to get married. She loved music and played the piano. My aunt said she had a mental image of her mom playing the piano and her dad standing behind her, looking over her shoulder at the music and singing along.

She passed away from cancer when she was only 48. She had ovarian cancer and waited too long to deal with it, then one of her ovaries burst. They did surgery, but the cancer spread to her colon. She had radiation, but they did too much of it and she suffered burns from it. They tried chemotherapy, which at that time they had to sign off on as an experimental procedure. She told my aunt she would have never gone through with the chemo except that Papaw so wanted her to be able to live longer.

Even with feeling so awful and the outlook not very promising, in the hospital she told everyone not to feel sorry for her, because she had gotten to see her kids grow up and to see many of her grandkids. She said, if you want to feel sad for someone, go to the children’s ward.

I so enjoyed not only the conversation with my aunt but getting a better picture in my mind of my grandmother as a person. I’m so glad my aunt took the time to call.

Over the years I have really grown to love the idea of family treasures to pass down to the generations — not expensive things, but sentimental things. I’ve so — not envied, exactly, when I have heard or read other people talking about things passed down from the their loved ones, but just regretted that for various reasons our family has not passed things down or has lost some items along the way during moves. But a few months ago while cleaning out a desk I rediscovered some pictures my mom had sent me before she passed away. These were pictures she had sent to her parents that eventually had gotten back to her after both her parents were gone. In that package was this special picture of my grandparents holding me when I was a baby.

It is a treasure to me not only because of who they are, but because it is one of the few mementos I have of them, made all the more precious to me today because my mental picture has been fleshed out a little more by the conversation today with my dear aunt.

19 thoughts on “Show and Tell Friday: My grandmother”

  1. That is a special picture. I never had grandparents but my kids do and they call their grandmother Memaw too

  3. That photo would be a special treasure to have. How neat.
    Thanks for sharing with us.
    You have a great weekend!

  5. Barbara, what a sweet posting and picture…..Things passed down from those we love don’t have to be costly….the value attached to them is love and sweet memories….thanks for visiting with me. Please come again. Betty

  7. What a wonderful phone call from your aunt! Thank you for sharing the stories about your mom with us. The picture is so sweet!!

    Kelli

  8. I enjoyed reading your post…..I have special memories of my grandmother and thankfully have a few things of hers as well.

    I just love the dress your grandmother is wearing–she looked lovely in it!

    Blessings,
    ~Mrs.B

  9. What a sweet post. Important to find answers to some of our questions while people are still around to give the info. When you’re young you don’t pay much attention but the older you get the more valuable those things are to you. Glad you have this lovely picture and the story of the woman in it.
    Susan

  12. I teared up while reading this. What an amazing woman to refer others to visit the children’s ward rather than feel sorry for her! What humility and courage. I am so happy that you had this conversation with your aunt. I am asking a lot of questions of my dad and aunts at this season in my life. I guess as we grow older, things of importance change for us. I want to write as much of my family history down for my boys. God bless you! Oh and I love the photo.

  14. What a cute picture – and now such wonderful memories for you! Blessings.

  15. What a nice photo you have…. you should frame it with a white mat and a black frame to set it off. It would look fabulous~

  16. That picture is lovely! Having things from the older generations is all about the memories/emotions attached to them.

    Don’t you love that dress your Memaw has on?! I believe it would fit right in with the sassy little summer dresses around today! So neat and feminine1

  17. Lovely post. I posted about my grandparents this week also. It sure is nice to find a meaningful old photograph, isn’t it?

  19. Lovely post. I just love old photos and I know this is one you treasure for sure.

    Thanks for sharing and have a blessed Sunday.

    Lyndy

Comments are closed.