Priscilla Rosalee Sinor
June 9, 1929 – November 14, 2008
May I tell you some things I know?
-she is the only person on the planet that has loved me completely and without conditions
-she is responsible for anything good within me
-she drank instant coffee, 3 cups every single day…with 2% milk and lots of sugar, she would pour some into her saucer to cool it off and then let me drink it…she is directly responsible for my Starbucks problem
-she was a bartender for over 20 years and she was the best (a fact that even though I don’t drink any more, I still think is cool)
-Grandma would buy my friend Carrie and I a whole watermelon, cut it in half and then let us eat the entire thing for breakfast…with a shaker of salt of course
-when she first came to Tennessee from Alaska at the age of 15 she had never seen a watermelon before, much less tasted one…upon her first introduction, she ate the entire slice…rind and all
-she was born in Valdez, Alaska…her mother was a full-blooded Aleutian Indian
-she taught me to use an eyebrow pencil to compensate for my lack of furrow
-rarely did she tell me “no” (I suppose she is directly responsible for spoiling me)
-however, she did slap me once, I was 7 and I took the Lord’s name in vain…I didn’t do it again
-she painted my room lavender when I was 6
-just about every single weekend from the time I was 2 until I was 14 was spent at my Grandma’s house (had I spent every weekend from 14 – 21 at her house, perhaps I would have avoided many a mistake)
-she wrote her grocery list on the back of junk mail envelopes…how I wish I had saved one of those lists…I can see her scrawled handwriting…milk, alka seltzer, hamburger...
-the first time she let me order a Big Mac instead of a happy meal (she always had an apple pie for herself)
-Faygo root beer in the fridge
-hours and hours at “rummage” sales and flea markets in search of long, dangly earrings for her to wear to work
-a pair of earrings that looked like a deck of cards and had individual cards hanging down
-the smell of Aqua-Net hairspray and White Diamonds perfume as she got ready for work
-Kmart…every Saturday…where I would get a coloring book, sketch pad, or book…but ALWAYS an Icee
-circus peanuts (that orange marshmallow-y candy)
-her spaghetti, stuffed bell peppers, banana pudding, toast and gravy, and of course apple cake
-shipments of fresh Halibut, smoked salmon and king crab that would follow her home from trips to Alaska…she let me have as much smoked salmon as I wanted…even though it was expensive
-the month that I spent with her, my papaw and my cousin Chad in Alaska…visiting family and seeing exactly where we come from
-our weekend routine: she would pick me up right after I got home from school, we would go to her house (I can still picture the route we took from one point to the next), she would cook dinner and I would help, she would watch the 5 o’clock news while resting on the couch, then she would take a bath (never a shower) and get ready for work, Papaw would come home, we would eat, she would go to work, Papaw would take me to rent a movie or to a a basketball game, we’d watch tv, around 3:30 am she would come home from work…sometimes with friend’s from work whose laughter would wake me up…and she would fix a big breakfast and let me stay up to eat too…then back to bed for both of us. on Saturday I would wake up and eat cereal…usually puffed oats or rice krispies…and watch cartoons (90 minutes of the smurfs, followed by Scooby doo) at 11 she would wake up, fix her coffee, read the paper…passing me the comics, we would then get dressed and head to kmart , flea markets and garage sales (my papaw would fill her tank up with gas before he left for work…she never learned how to pump gas)…after kmart the evening would go exactly like the evening before
-she always smiled
-my papaw would pat her rump and she would swat his hand away and say “Oh quit that”…but she would always grin... so I knew she liked the attention
-she told me that I was smart…and I believed her
-her kitchen was decorated with ducks for a very long time
-the duck phase gave way to the Campbell’s soup phase
-she would take me to Cedar Hill park (before it was a pervert magnet) and let me feed the ducks…if she didn’t have any stale bread she would take me to bi-rite and buy me a loaf to feed them
-she let me play in the creek behind her house for hours
-she smoked Winston cigarettes
-she would buy me candy cigarettes and “light” them for me with her lighter (this was before we knew how bad cigarettes were for your health…I think)
-due to said smoking she had a cough and when we would get separated in a store I would listen for her cough in order to find her again
-she really liked Lifetime movies on Sunday night
-she let my papaw name all of their male collies (and there were at least 4) Vandy…all female collies (and there were at least 2 of those) Lady
-Red Lobster was her favorite restaurant
-once when I was 10 she let me wash her car to earn spending money…I thought that it would be a good idea to squirt the hood with Windex and let it soak in…she didn’t yell at me when she realized that I had stripped the paint off of her car…she was nice like that
-she let me choose the radio station every single time we went out
-she let me use her good silverware and dishes to make countless mud pies…and then she would pretend to eat them
-she hosted family dinners every single month for everyone that had a birthday that month
-chocolate pie is definitely a dinner substitute
-she hugged me…a lot
-she teased me…a lot…(in that good way that let’s you know you’re loved)
-strays were always welcome (her affectionate term for anyone without family close by that spent the holidays with us)
-if it couldn’t be bought at bi-rite, we didn’t need to eat it
-I was her favorite…until I had Forrest and then he usurped me…I’ve never forgiven him for that
-every once in awhile she would take me to work with her…before we knew that bars were bad for children…and the band would let me request songs and she would let me dance on the dance floor and give me all of the Shirley Temples I could drink…then she would take a break and put me to bed in the linen room…she would tuck me with table cloths as my blankets and I knew that I was the luckiest little girl in the world
-she is and was my hero
-One thing I don’t know though…is how to live with out her.
7 comments:
well, that was just beautiful. seriously. Per would be proud.
I remember your grandma because her house always smelled like home cooked food (well her house in Madison, that's the only place I think of when I think of her). I would sneak inside to use the bathroom while everyone was outside playing volleyball and she was always in there cooking something.
She was a cool cat and will be greatly missed, but luckily she had great kids, who had great kids to keep her memory alive.
I'm thinking of and praying for you guys. I can't imagine losing my grandma and I'm here if you need to chat, cry, or go drink some shirley temples!
Destry - this is very beautiful! I'm so sorry... I'm praying for you and I love you very, very, very much! :)
You're not supposed to make me cry @ 7:30 on a Saturday morning. But, memories as good as those deserve tears that the love felt from reading them deserves. You can say you loved and were loved incredibly by your incredible grandmother. Her memory will be a beautiful one.
Thank you, for sharing these wonderful memories of your Grandma.
Thinking of you during this time of transition.
Totally understand where you're at right now ... I've been thinking of you and praying for you ... and will continue ... one thing that has always helped me is to do things in honor of my loved ones ... especially around holidays or special occasions that would have involved them ... belive it or not, it might sound crazy to some, but ... keeping the memories alive by just "doing something" SO helps to ease the pain ... especially the first year. One thing I did when my grandmother passed was to plant a tree in the yard - a magnolia ... she passed in 1995 - it's fully grown and beautiful and everytime it blooms I think of her. One thing I do in honor of my Dad, is purchase a special Christmas ornament every year in his honor. Praying special peace for you ... tammy
Destry, that was AWESOME! I couldn't wait to read the next line in your memory bank of your grandmother..it is so great she and you had such a special relationship and so many childhood memories branded into your brain.
She sounds very fun and different and wonderful! You are very blessed to have had such a person, and I know that means you will doubly miss her too, BUT ...I also know you can smile alot for having had her. Very important. You said she smiled all the time...so don't forget to do that whenever possible, for HER!
okay, if "little einsteins" weren't blarring in the other room of my house, and I could actually concentrate on something I would be crying my eyes out right now :( that is sooo sweet and sooo sad!!
What a great woman she was! and what awesome memories we have of her :)
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