I just called...

I'm thinking about my grandmother today - Josephine - Gram K. - my mother's mother.  I loved my grandmother.  She was "it" for me - gentle - kind loving - strong.  When my own parents had no love to show me... Gram did.  Always.

Anyway... that's not what this post is about.   This post is about a song - and a day.  I'll never forget either. 

I was almost fifty years old then.  After a long day, I called my grandmother (who lived in western Pennsylvania) on the phone.  When she answered, I said... "Hi Gram!  I just called to say I love you."

My grandmother began to sing the song by Stevie Wonder... 

 

"I'm so glad you did," she said after finishing the first line of the song.  "I love you too, Jane.  Isn't that Stevie Wonder a talented young man?"  I could hear the smile in her voice.

 

"I didn't know you liked him, Gram."
 

"Oh, I do!  I love his music.  I hear him on the radio."

 

I laughed.  My grandmother never failed to surprise and delight me.

And so... we had "our song".  One of us sang a line or two from the song every time we talked on the phone. 

 

And then we laughed. 

My grandmother's hat

At one point, my mother and I lived in western Pennsylvania with my grandmother and great-grandfather.  It was a life-changing year for me, but we'll do that another time.  This is about the hat.

So...

Every morning my grandmother got up... took a shower (she went once a week to get her hair "done", so she wore a shower cap.  I was fascinated.  That's how they did that in the olden days), put on her stockings, slip, and dress... and then... a hat.

I was little - 4 years old maybe?  I didn't understand the hat.

"Gram... Why do you put on a hat every morning?"

Gramma Jo chuckled.  "I put on my hat every morning because I want to be ready.  Bertha (across the street) or Duckie (down the street) might be going into town and call to invite me to come.  If I'm not ready - if they have to wait for me - they might not invite me again.  That would never do."

"No Gram", I laughed, hugging her.  "That would never do"

I don't wear a hat, but I do get my shower and get dressed before I do anything else.  Something good might come up and I want to be ready.

Thanks, Gram!