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It's January 22nd. Two days after my birthday. A day that has no historical significance nor is it some big holiday. Not one that people worldwide celebrate anyway. But it is my great grandmother's birthday. I don't know how old she would be today,though I think she would be in her 80's if not older. Meeting her isn't something I can remember. The only memory I can remember of her from when I was little was the day of my Great Grandaddy Joe's funeral. I can remember sitting in her kitchen in Nashville, asking about eating one of her wax grapes. I think I was six at the time. These were the biggest graps I've ever seen and she had them sitting in a bowl on her table. I can remember her laughing at me and telling me that they weren't real, so no I couldn't eat them. Before that day I can't remember a thing about her. Until several years ago I didn't see her again although my family told stories about her and Grandaddy Joe from when they were growing up. In fact right now in my bedroom I have one of Grandaddy's chairs. It's brown and short and it spins. I have it sitting under my lamp, in front of my bookshelf, so I can read in it. To be honest I don't remember Grandaddy Joe, but I do like having that chair.
I'm twenty-one as of right now and I think I was fourteen or fifteen when Nanny moved from Nashville to Chattanooga. I can remember very well the drive up to her apartment to help get her things to move them here. I remember watching my father and older brothers, my brother in law Greg, and Popastein, saran wrap her huge China Cabinet. And then carefully and in no small amount of time load it into the U-Haul truck. I remember stopping at a gas station and trying Greg's Red Bull on the way home. Other than that I don't remember much about that day other than my mother pointing out things or places that she remembered from when she was little.
Once Nanny was moved into the Nursing home she was in the visits began. Now I can tell you as a young teenager I could have honestly cared less about visiting Nanny. What good was it for me to go visit a woman who couldn't remember who I was, who I barely knew, and who wouldn't remember I was even there after I left. In fact many of those visits were spent outback on the patio watching birds while my mom and dad visited Nanny. It was the times I stayed in there with them though and listened to my great grandmother that I will never forget. I heard stories of field mice being put down a certain farm hand's shirt. Of them tying paper to a cats feet and hanging it up to a washing line, to name a few. She always seemed to be wearing a blue sweat shirt and sweat pants. And she was always so proud of her hair on the days it was fixed.
Most of the times we visited we took her a chocolate milkshake from Sonic. We had to go and get it at least half an hour before we saw her because it would have to melt before she could get it through the straw. And she loved creme drops and horehound. To this day I can't pass by a Sonic or stop in and get anything without thinking about her. Everytime I go into a Cracker Barrel or into Sportman's Warehouse and see the bags of "Old Fashion" candy that contain the creme drops and horehound I think of those many visits. It never failed either, when she had a milkshake, Cody and I always, always, were asked by her if we wanted some. I can remember her huge eye glasses with the boxy frame, they were black.
I've always been told that I would have loved Nanny when she was younger. That she was quite the woman. By now I've heard many a tale from my sister or mother or aunt about visiting her and Grandaddy Joe. Have to say, yeah I would have loved to have met her when she was young. But to be honest I loved meeting her when I did. When those stories could be buried in my memory forever. The way her voice sounded. The feel of her arms around me when I hugged her goodbye or her hand as it patted mine. Things that I probably shouldn't remember considering I didn't know her for that long but I do.
Today isn't a national holiday and it's not celebrated or remembered by the world. Today is my Nanny's birthday and it's a day I remember every year.
