Got Milk?

My grandmother lived to be 105 years old. She was an amazing woman. She was a great cook. Fried chicken,creamed corn,fried okra,green beans,cornbread,coconut pies,fried apple pies,chocolate pies,yeast rolls,pound cake, home-made ice cream,congealed salads and black eyed peas were among her specialties. She cooked and ate all of those foods. And she lived to be 105. I told you she was amazing. (She also drank alot of milk so add that to your menu.) We haven't even discussed breakfast. It was her favorite meal. She prepared biscuits,gravy,syrup,eggs,grits,bacon and country ham. She loved syrup on her biscuits. Everything she cooked was delicious. She would always find fault with each meal. She would say that something wasn't quite right but it was the imaginary critique of a culinary perfectionist.

She also shined in the garden. She had two green thumbs and a couple of green hands. She would dig around in the dirt and plant and weed and nurture. She had incredibly beautiful flowers. She also had a pure and inconsolable hatred of her nemesis,the squirrel. She could not tolerate the squirrel's vandalism of her garden.

She was a strong woman with a wicked sense of humor and an inexplicable ability to memorize and re-tell lengthy jokes. She was also soft-hearted and would cry easily over the reporting of sad news or an emotional storyline in Lassie. She loved television and especially enjoyed The Lawrence Welk Show,Flipper and Lassie. She also very much enjoyed her radio. She listened to talk radio long before it was vogue.

She enjoyed music especially country music. She watched The Grand Ole Opry and loved to listen to Minnie Pearl. She could play the mouth-harp (harmonica) like nobody's business.

She hailed from the great state of Alabama and she loved her homeland. She loved her family and she was generous in her time and affection.

I can remember riding the train with her and she packed a jar of ice cold milk for the trip. We also had the small coca cola bottles and crackers and cheese. I remember going with her to department stores at Christmas and looking at elaborate store windows decorated for the holidays with elves, reindeer and trains. I can remember hearing trains in the night when visiting her. She once told me that the train whistle was "an awful lonesome sound".

In later years, I was her go-to person if she couldn't think of an actor's name. She would call me and instruct me to flip to a certain channel and identify the person. She loved movies. She enjoyed Shirley Temple. She enjoyed westerns and the old classics.

Today I am thinking about waking up in her home in Birmingham,Alabama to the sound of Gospel Jubilee on the television and the crackling furnace and the smells of biscuits and country ham and the sweet,sweet smell of my grandmother. I can feel that cold glass of milk in my hand. And I can hear that train. Today is her birthday. I miss you,Mama.