As with my other
grandmother, I can’t really tell you too much about her long life. I can’t say
I know many of the personal details of who she was. Funny thing about
grandmothers; it doesn’t really matter who she is, or who she was. She’s just
your grandmother, and that’s all you really need to know. I will say this: my
relationship with her grew stronger as I got older. She was certainly important
to me as a child, but as I got older, my grandmother become more of a friend,
and it was a relationship I will always cherish.
As I started writing this, I
was flooded with thoughts and memories. It would take me days to write them all
down, so here are just a few:
She had four kids, three
boys and a girl. And she loved them all, and she was proud of them, and she
hurt for them and they struggled, as marriages failed, and they were sick. She
loved to see them. And those four kids gave her a slew of grandchildren. I was the
first. She loved all of us, too.
She was a strong woman. Late in the 1990's, my
grandfather had a stroke that left him unable to really say much and confined
to a wheelchair. She adapted to the situation and took care of him for years. I’m
sure it was hard, but I never heard her complain. And when he died, it broke
her heart, but she kept going. And I watched her sit at the bedside of her
firstborn child (my father) as he died. It broke her heart, but she was strong an kept on going. Life was not over for her.
She became a very close
friend of my mother is her later years. They were always friends, but the bond
between them grew as my dad was sick, and after he died it grew even stronger.
My grandparents loved to
travel, and twice the drove to Alaska and back from Mississippi. They would be
gone a month at a time. This always seemed so exciting to me as a child (and really, it WAS exciting. Who
wouldn’t want to do that?) And this was the days before digital cameras, and
she would return with so many rolls of film to develop, which she would then
type labels for and meticulously construct photo albums of her trips. She did
the same for family reunions.
My grandparents were
longtime friends with Country Music Hall of Famer Sonny James. I don’t know how
they met (maybe someone can add that story in the comments section below) but
all I know as they would visit him and his wife and always received cards and
letters over the years.
My grandfather used to have
a jukebox business, so there were TONS of 45 records at the house. I remember
one day (in my adult years) a bunch of family was at her house and we popped some Booker T and the MGs on
the turntable and I remember thinking it was so cute to see my grandmother
bopping around the kitchen dancing to “Time is Tight.” I always think of her
when I hear it.
She loved casinos. Good
Lord, did she love casinos. She was always out and about, popping in to see
people and play the slots. She never really won big, but that wasn’t the point.
It was a place to go with something to do and people to see. The employees
would see her and greet her like old friends. She knew their names and was
happy to see them, too. When my dad was working for IGT, he was often in town
at one of the casinos servicing a machine and she’d pop up to see him. She
gambled often enough to get a lot of comps- free rooms, discounts, free meals.
Anytime Katie and I came to town, she’d gather as many family members as
possible to meet at some casino buffet and she cover the whole meal. She got
Katie and I plenty of free rooms. And up until her health was failing and her
eyesight was giving out to the point she couldn’t go (which was very recently,
I should add), my Aunt Susan would drive her out so she could spend a few
minutes playing some games. She loved it.
She took great delight in
picking out cards for people’s birthdays. I know this sounds minor, but her
love of a good greeting card cannot be overstated.
She loved pageants. For
years she never missed a Miss Vicksburg or a Miss Mississippi pageant. She
loved them.
She loved watching golf
games on TV and she was a diehard Tiger Woods fan. She loved him and talked
about him all the time.
She loved those creepy-ass “Ghost
Hunter” types of shows. She saw one on a haunted house in Cape May, NJ and
always said she wished she could have gone to see it during our wedding. I know
she’s in a better place now, but if she was given the option, she’d probably
have a blast haunting somewhere for a little while.
She was very supportive of
us going to Tanzania. She thought our stories were so interesting and loved to
hear about our travels, our adventures, our challenges. She was proud of what
we were doing. I talked with her in early December. That was the last time we
spoke, but I will always remember her laughing and asking all sorts of
questions about our Serengeti safari.
The last few months were
very hard for her. She fell and cracked one of her vertebrae. She was in a lot
of pain, and then in early December, her Brother Cecil died of a heart attack.
I think the pain and Cecil’s death were just too much. She tried to rally, but
in the end it was too much. Evidently she had a stroke.
My Mamaw was fun, quick to
laugh and easy to talk to. She was a great lady, and I thank her for all the
wonderful memories she has given us.
Mamaw Reid, you will be
missed.
