written by Geri L. Phillips



There She Stood, There She Lay

There she stood, combing her long and shiny silver hair. During the day she wore it up with at least ten bobby pins and each night she would let it down again. I loved seeing Grandma with her hair down! She wore a long cotton nightgown that had little blue flowers on it. I hid behind the door to see what she would do next. She reached into her drawer and grabbed a container of facial creme and rubbed it all over her face. I had wondered if this is why she had so few wrinkles. She slowly reached down to the lotion dispenser and rubbed the sweet smelling lotion on her arms and hands. To this day, when I smell the fruity scent of Jergan’s lotion, I think of Grandma.

Nearly complete with her nightly ritual, she knelt down on the side of her bed and began praying. I listened closely and found that she was saying some of the prayers in another language. Of course I had to assume it was spoken in Italian.

Grandma had a dimpled smile for every customer that walked into her “West End Grocery” store, as well as for every stranger she ever met.

When I visited Grandma at the store, she always had something for me. She would reach inside the pocket of her hand made apron and give me a piece of Juicy Fruit gum.

I loved Grandma enormously and she was my closest companion Often she and I would be alone in her big and quiet house. We sat together and watched “The Carol Burnett Show” on television. I enjoyed listening to her laugh and watching her sparkling eyes water as she became tickled with Carol Burnett’s comedy. Many times I watched her make her simply designed dresses on the kitchen table, then I cheered and clapped when she had completed one. I often watched her pray on her knees every night and sometimes I knelt right beside her. When I was sick I used to ask her to pray for me. Once, I even asked her to pray for my kitty cat, Fluffy, who was sick.

On Sunday mornings I would hear Grandma in the kitchen. I knew it was Grandma because her house shoes made a whimsical noise while she shuffled around preparing to go to church. Grandma loved going to church. She really loved singing the hymns.

When I found out that Grandma could not read, I made a promise that I would teach her. We started out with small words such as “that” and “the”. After a long morning of her giggling at me for trying to teach her, I soon gave up and began to laugh with her.

Once when my cousins were visiting, Grandma became very sick. I felt so sorry for her that I made all of the kids stop running around the house and I stopped them from being loud. I asked my cousins to come with me. I wanted us to pray for her. One by one, they followed me into her darkened room and knelt down beside her bed. We prayed the Lord’s Prayer and asked Jesus to make her all better while she lay sleeping. I do not think that she ever knew. The next morning I heard her shuffling around in her house shoes. She was up making breakfast and truly, she was all better!

As time passed and things changed, we moved. I did not spend as much time with her as I would have liked. I graduated high school and began working. Soon, Grandma became very sick. Suffering with Diabetes throughout the years, she had now other complications. She was now bedridden.

There she lay helpless, in a bed at my parent’s house. Now that I was older, I could not share my hopes, dreams and maturity with her. Although I tried. She did not understand me and sometimes she did not even know me. It pained me a great deal.

She is gone. To this day, I still miss her very much. I think that her body could not handle anymore here on earth, so she went to heaven where she could continue to watch and guide us through the tragedies in our lives by the faith she left with us. I wonder if she ever knew how much I loved and appreciated her. This I know, she loved me unconditionally and when I see her again I am going to say, “Thank you Grandma for filling my childhood with a lot of love.”

I thank God for my wonderful Grandma!