My grandmother was a small lady, especially towards the end. She was about 5' 2" and could not have weighed more than 80 pounds. She had troubles with memory. One day in the fall of 2007 my mom and I went over to check on her and see what she needed from the grocery store. She had one of her small crystal glasses out on the table with a clear liquid inside. She picked it up and took a drink. After making a funny face, she said, "That's not water, that's gin!" I just happened to be videotaping her for my mom, who wanted something to remember her by. We knew she wasn't doing so well at this time. I should also mention that she probably drank her weight in alcohol towards the end as well. She was in her 70s and my mom wasn't going to dare tell her she couldn't have her drinks. My mom turned to her at that remark and asked her when she started drinking straight gin. My grandma matched my mom's disbelieving look with one of her own and said, "I haven't. I was out of whiskey." I had to stiffle a laugh at that because her tone of voice implied that my mom was the strange one for asking such a question.
Then they started singing this little ditty that I later learned to be called "Show Me the Way to Go Home." My mom started and then my grandma joined in, "I had a little drink about an hour ago, and it went straight to my head." After those lines, they couldn't remember what came next, so they hummed a bit until my grandma remembered "by land or sea or foam." Then they were off singing again. It was a rare moment that today I am still struck by the sheer luck that I happened to be videotaping. The video is below. I don't know how to edit videos, so just ignore the last 30 seconds of them talking about selling the house.
I can remember staying at her house while my parents had a particularly nasty divorce. We would stay up late while she taught my sister and me how to play cards properly and shuffle the cards in fancy ways.
Below: My mom, my grandma, me and my baby sister, Angelique
Below: My grandpa and me (I was giving him an instant Polaroid picture of myself)
Below: My mom (The train is actually moving! We were on the river side of the flood wall.)
1 comments:
That is absolutely precious! And your grandmother is the same stature as my great-grandmother. What a wonderful memory. Thank you for sharing it with us!
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