Remember When?

Remember when Grandma drove the car from the parking spot to the front of the store to meet my mom, and I freaked out because I didn't know that she knew how to drive? I was probably 7! We were waiting for mom to come out of this clothing store in Fox Lake, near the cottage.

Remember when Grandma broke her Femur bone, and the Doctor had a crush on Aunt Char?

Remember when all of the cousins would gather at Grandma's house after school on Halloween to go Trick or Treating till at least 10:00 p.m. Those were the good old days!

Remember when we'd go to Grandma's house on St. Joseph's Day and she'd have tons of food, but our favorite treat was the Sfingi?

Remember Grandma's rice mold?

Remember how Grandma would walk around in her rubber flip flops that had to be as old as me, and she wouldn't get rid of them know matter what condition they were in? She put electrical tape around them and insisted on wearing them until the bitter end!

Remember how Grandma had a closet full of clothes, but towards the end, she wore the same outfit over and over and over!

One Month

It's just over one month already since Grandma passed away. Aunt Virge reminded me of that. Before you know it, it will be 20 years ago! Time just goes by so quickly.

I know that Aunt Virge still feels terrible that she didn't get to say "goodbye," but I think Grandma knew the last time she saw her that it would be the last time.

Can't She Even Rest in Peace?

I've heard of grave robbers before, but someone stole the plaque off of Grandma's grave-site. Some people in this world are very disturbed.

Collage of Grandma's Life

Aunt Barbara Sciaraffa created this collage of Grandma's life.

Happy Grandparent's Day!

This is the first time I didn't have to buy my Grandma a Grandparent's Day card. When I saw them in the store, it reminded me that I had to, and then I remembered that she's gone. It's weird how someone could be here one day and gone the next!

I was the only one who ever sent her a Grandparent's Day card and she always appreciated it. I just think it's nice to get cards in the mail.

So, Grandma, if you can hear me (I will say this very loudy!)...."HAPPY GRANDPARENT'S DAY!!!"


XOOOXOX

Broken Chain

We little knew that morning that God was going to call your name. In life we loved you dearly, in death we do the same. It broke our hearts to lose you, you did not go alone, for part of us went with you, the day God called you home. You left us peaceful memories, your love is still our guide; and though we cannot see you, you are always at our side. Our family chain is broken, and nothing seems the same, but as God calls us one by one, the chain will link again.

--Written by Ron Tranmer

Oops, I Did it Again!

While I was looking at a magazine, I was thinking about my Christmas list, and I saw something that I thought Grandma might like. Then, I realized that I won't have to buy her a Christmas present this year.

Guess it's just a habit.

Christmas 2007

Easter 2010

Neighborhood Cruise

Gene & Phyllis Babiarz, Tina Fitzgerald, Joann Grimes, Virge Passarella, Walter Fitgerald

Hoarding

Grandma became a hoarder. (I think Grandpa collected junk too.) In later years, she became worse and worse. She never wanted to get rid of anything. At first it was just clothes, newspapers, and magazines. But, then she started collecting McDonald's coffee cups and the cardboard tubes that hold your toilet paper. Why she would save these things is beyong my comprehension. I think that hoarding is a strange sickness. I used to just throw the stuff away when I went there.

She also hoarded food. We even found McDonald's French Fries in her freezer one time. After the holidays, she would take home everything that she could, but she rarley ever ate it.

We found a whole box of condiments in her cabinet while cleaning out her house. I can't even imagine how old some of those were.

Speaking of old! One time Mr. Mellett stopped by to visit with my Dad and Grandma and my Dad gave him a Coke, and it was about 10 years old! Mr. Mellett even asked if he could take it home to show Mrs. Mellett because he couldn't believe it. Therefore, whenever I went to her house, I always came with my own Diet Coke from McDonald's.

Candles

It used to make me neurotic that Grandma lived alone and would always lite candles for everyone she knew in prayer. It was like she had this shrine set up in the kitchen with religious statues and prayer cards. Sometimes I would go there, and they would be melting all over the counter. Or, one time, she raised it up so that it was just underneath the cabinet. I thought she was going to burn the house down (and I'm very paranoid about fires).

Every time I went there, I would die them out and throw them out. Her kids kept buying them for her. I don't understand why they couldn't say "no" when this was a matter of safety.

I even bought her the flame less battery-operated candles, but she never used those! I thought that it was the perfect solution.

She is so lucky that nothing every happened because this was a very serious concern.

Coffee

Grandma literally had coffee everywhere. She spilled it on the walls and on the carpet. The counter was always stained with coffee too. She never used a spoon rest! Her sink was always stained with coffee as well.

The reason that I mention this is that my cousin Janie (Uncle John and Aunt Linda's daughter) wanted one of her coffee cups to remember her by, and when she took it out of the cabinet, it had a big coffee ring on the inside. Disgusting!

She had coffee going all day long. She had this Carafe, and I don't know what the point was as they cost about $10, but something happened to the lid, and she concocted this lid out of tinfoil. I have no idea why she did this.

If her coffee was too hot, she would put ice cubes in it, then it would get cold, and she would re-microwave it. She repeated this routine several times per cup.

I made her a nice Scrapbook for her 80th birthday, and when I looked at it today, I noticed huge coffee stains all over it regardless of the fact that the pages were in plastic page protectors. How she managed that I will never know.

A coffee stain was like her signature!

The Cottage

We would go up to the cottage with Grandma and Grandpa. Even after we got our cottage, we'd go up with them and mom and dad would follow later. One time, a dog up the street from us had puppies, and I stayed there all day! I sat in the dirt with them and I was in 4th or 5th grade because our house burnt down when I was in 4th grade, and we lost our dog Tammy due to smoke inhalation. Dad promised me that I could get another dog, so I was plotting! I had a favorite. She was brown with some black. Her mother was Jodi and her dad was Duke. I loved Duke...he looked a lot like Tammy! As soon as we would get to the cottage, I would yell for Duke and he would come over and hang out with us. He was an awesome dog!

Anyhow, Grandma and Grandpa let me stay at Jodi's all day playing with the puppies. Somehow, I convinced my mom that it would make a great Father's Day present for my Dad, and that's how we got Muffin. Aunt Char picked out that name, however. I don't know that I would name my dog after a food., but I was just a kid.

Muffin was a good dog. She was great with people, and she looked like a mop. Her downfall was that she ate a lot of shoes and underwear.

When my parents bought a cottage on the street in front of Grandma's (Grandma lived in Woodrow and we lived on Leeside) we would visit, but had our own sleeping quarters. We always remember the Denk Kids (Connie and Al's kids) at the Lake!...Especially the time when Lauren backed down the driveway and into a neighbors tree in Uncle Al's new Mitsubishi! They loved playing the leaves.

Grandpa used to come wandering through our cottage bright and early in the morning whistling, with newspaper in hand. He never cared that anyone was sleeping and no one ever got mad at him.

Grandma enjoyed the cottage, but not as much as Grandpa. She liked to sit on the boat, but she was always ready to go back home to Chicago!

It was nice that Grandpa's friend, Al Valenza had the cottage next to us for years. Grandpa was friends with everyone. We had a lot of good times at the cottages.

And, if there was overflow at ours, we would go to Grandma's to use the bathroom or take a shower! We had wells, so we had to monitor how much water we used.

Grandma and Grandpa used to like to go to this place in Antioch for breakfast. It was called the Country Squire at Rte. 173 and Rte. 59...it's still there today. It's a typical Greek-style family restaurant. Grandpa always ordered his coffee "unleaded."

"Oh, My Aunt Tina"

When Carrie Camp was a little girl, she thought that the Tony Orlando and Dawn song "Candida" said "Oh, my Aunt Tina!"

Here's the real version: Candida

Some of Grandma's Favorite Things

1. Grandma really loved her family and friends. We used to go to her house very Sunday for dinner. She always had a houseful.
2. Grandma loved too cook, but I rarely remember her baking too many things (except Pistachio Cake, Pineapple Upside Down cake, and Sfingi for St. Joseph's Day). My favorite thing that she made was Pot Roast or Beef Stew in the plastic bag. I also remember her Chop Suey, Chicken Noodle Soup, Pastina, and Chili (when I was little, she would pick the beans out for me). She used to make French Toast for breakfast and she always sprinkled powdered sugar on top.
3. Grandma loved her coffee and cigarettes. Fortunately she did quit smoking. I remember when I would pick her up for work at For Eyes where she used to file, and she would smell of coffee and cigarettes...it used to make me nauseous. She used to drink her coffee with sugar, but in later years, she drank it black.
4. Grandma loved the birds. She always liked to point them out to us when we were  younger. She knew what type they were and she would feed them. At the cottage, she also liked to feed the ducks. She even liked the squirrels although she pretended not to.
5. Grandma loved to sit on the pontoon boat and get a suntan.
6. Grandma always liked to go out shopping and out to lunch (or breakfast). We did that a lot (especially her, my mom, and I). We'd go to Gantos, and JC Penny's outlet store, but she always had to go to Walgreens no matter how many stores we took her to. In her last year with us, Mom, Aunt Connie, and Aunt Char started the tradition of taking her out to lunch or breakfast or to get her hair done, etc. They called that day "Tuesdays With Tina." Since I was unemployed during part of that time, I would often go with. A lot of times we went to Bakers Square for breakfast, but she couldn't even remember what she liked. I'm glad that I got to spend those days with her.
7. Grandma loved lemon and especially Lemon Mergengue pie. When we'd go to Baker's Squre for "Tuesdays With Tina," we'd always get her a slice to take home. When we were little, I remember her eating Lemon Heads. She liked the old time candy like Bulls Eyes and Mary Janes too.
8. Grandma enjoyed playing cards, playing games such as Perquacky, and doing Crossword Puzzles. She also liked to watch "Wheel of Fortune."
9. Grandma loved her candy! She liked anything that was chocolate, but if you gave her a box of Fannie May, she would know what it was and wouldn't even want to unwrap it out of fear that someone would eat some. Her and Grandpa used to fight over their candy bars. They used to hide them from each other.
10. Grandma used to order Lamb Chops a lot. She really enjoyed them.
11. Grandma also loved her soup! For a long time Bennigan's Cream of Potato soup was her favorite. She always enjoyed a good bowl of Minestrone too.
12. Grandma loved "Stinky Joe's," which was an Italian market on Irving near her house. Whenever Aunt Virge and Uncle Dan would come to visit, she liked to go there to get some lunch meat. When I was a little kid, I had to wait outside because it was too "stinky." When I was about 22, I wanted to call there to order something, but I couldn't because I only knew that it was called "Stinky Joe's." I didn't know the real name!
13. Grandma loved eggs (but they didn't always love her!). She also loved hot dogs. Unusual since she never would eat a hamburger.
14. Grandma always loved Harley (my dog) but she didn't like Daisy from the start. Therefore, she always referred to her as "Buttercup." As if Daisy was so hard to remember.
15. Grandma loved going to the casinos. She loved playing the slot machines. We used to laugh because she would tell us how she couldn't walk, but get her into a casino, and off she would run!
16. Grandma loved Baseball. She was a huge Cubs fan. They aren't doing so well lately, however.
17. Grandma loved Frank Sinatra.
18. Grandma loved the Fall colors! She always wanted to go to see the leaves changing. She used to be able to do this with her friends (including my Grandma Babiarz). After they all passed away, she used to come to our house in Spring Grove. When they had their cottage, she really got to enjoy the colors.
19. Grandma loved her Soap Operas. I think they turn your brain to mush, but she always taped them.
20. Grandma loved shows like "Barnaby Jones" and the "Rockford Files". She also used to liked "Murder She Wrote" with Angela Lansbury. She always had a new line-up of shows that she liked to watch regularly. 
21. Grandma loved to read. She really liked Mary Higgins Clark (I think that was her favorite author).
22. Grandma loved to take an afternoon nap. Even when we would go to her house after school, because we weren't allowed to go home alone, Grandma would take a nap and tell us to help ourselves to whatever we wanted to eat.
23. Grandma liked to hoard food. She would always take leftovers, or the jelly and sugar from the restaurant tables, but she never ate or used them! At any time, her fridge was full of old food.
24. But, mostly Grandma loved being in her own house. She couldn't be anywhere too long without wanting to just go back home. Sometimes when I would take her shopping, she would say that she wasn't going to move until she went to "St. Joseph's Cemetery." Her and Grandpa had plots together. It used to make me mad that she would say that, and I threatened not to take her shopping anymore. It's just depressing for someone to always talk about dying, and she outlived everyone!

Grandma's 89th Birthday!

Grandma and Me!

What's Weird

What's weird is that Grandma is gone, and I will catch myself starting to ask my mom if she spoke to her on the phone. Or, I will see a Halloween card in the store and think that I need to buy one for her. It's just an automatic.

I think although people are gone, we continue living our lives, but we never forget them. It's almost as though a little piece is missing with each person who has passed.