It’s amazing – the small things that can trigger a memory! I opened up a Christmas card from a lady at work tonight – she had put a few goodies inside, among them, a spearmint chapstick. Instantly, I was taken years back - to time with my grandmother, whose signature lip balm of choice was spearmint chapstick. My Dad’s mom – she lived with us for several years around the time that I was 12 or so – about the age that my daughter is now. Our home had an apartment, and this was modified so she could navigate it with her arthritis. She was a very unique character (but we won’t go into a lot of that – we don’t have time!). Because she wasn’t able to move around much, she kept a large table covered in green felt next to her recliner, and this was where she kept everything she might need in the course of a day. She always wrote with a green fine tip pen, always used spearmint chapstick, and always had a knitting project at hand.
She loved The Price is Right and 100 Huntley Street. She had a TV in her apartment, and we didn’t have one, so it was a great treat to be allowed to go watch The Price is Right with her in the evening.
She introduced me to Gene Stratton-Porter and extolled the virtues of the McGuffey Readers.
From her, I learned to love day-old popcorn and Almond Roca.
I can still remember the smell of her apartment. Tonight, when I opened the spearmint chapstick, it brought so many memories flooding back.
She’s been gone for years. But tonight, when I smelled her again, it was like a present – a moment to remember my Grandma.
My grandma had a little side table where she kept everything too. Her knitting, tissues, peanut M&M’s in a jar, and paper and pencil to write stuff down on. We spent so much time at her house and I was fed a constant tv diet of Wheel of Fortune and Lawrence Welk. She always called me My Amy because she would always start to call me by my sister’s name, and correct herself halfway. I miss that. Great post.
Thanks, Jess! My only memory of her living with us is going down to her room early in the morning before everyone else was awake, and she grumpily sent me back to bed. Mom figures I was about 2 1/2 years old. I never had the chance to “know” her and only have a couple memories – watching Star Trek at her house in Rocky, and that’s it.