MiMi was my grandmother on my father's side. When someone mentions grandparents, I think of MiMi because she was the grandparent who influenced me the most. As memories often seem to do, they flood together in a collage of images that span the years. MiMi would often have us spend the night and she always made you take a bath and get powdered up because she claimed you would sleep better. And then there was her routine of waking you up to use the bathroom before she went to bed. Again, she was adament that this helped one get a better night's sleep.
MiMi made one kind of cookie, an orange cookie made with butter flavored Spry as I recall and with orange rind in the icing. Imagine my excitement a few years ago when a friend at work showed up with orange cookies that looked and tasted just like MiMi's. My sister and I make them, but although they are good, something is missing. I like to tell my grandchildren that it is the secret ingredient of "love" when they like my cooking; maybe that's what's missing.
I remember trips to downtown Akron when O'Neils and Polsky's were in business and ladies dressed up to go to town. We would ride a bus to town and lunch at the Tea Room in the store. Those trips were extra special days when we always brought home something sweet from the Hough Bakery inside O'Neil's and she usually bought me something special as a treat. I don't remember what those things were because they were just things but I do remember the days spent shopping downtown which always included a visit to the 5 and 10 store too.
MiMi would make dough from flour and water and let us roll it out and play with it at her dining room table. I guess it was pre-playdoh days. My mom could never understand why she let us make such a mess but it was always so much fun! Recently as I prepared for Thanksgiving and every square inch of my counter was covered in dishes, I started to lament that I needed a bigger kitchen and then I remembered... MiMi would serve Thanksgiving from her tiny kitchen that really only had room to turn around in. She set up card tables in the living room and as I remember fed 12 of us in her apartment. I never heard her say she needed a bigger kitchen either! Recalling that, I quickly adjusted my attitude and was thankful for the space and the food God provided that day.
Unfortunately, MiMi was plagued with dementia the last 10 - 15 years of her life. I remember going to visit her at Stow Glen Nursing Home. When she didn't recognize us, I told her we were Greg's daughters, Pam and Patte. She got a look of delight and surprise on her face which was fleeting and then we were strangers again. She passed away the spring before turning 90.
Those are the good memories and I'm thankful they overshadow the negative ones that are associated with times of alcoholic excesses and family fights. The holidays always started on a happy note and each time I would hope against hope that it would be different this time. And then as the day wore on and the alcohol took its toll, the memories were tarnished a bit. There is a photograph of her back burned horriby after she fell asleep smoking when I was staying overnight. Thankfully, the mattress burned and not the house, and God spared this little child long ago.
Just the same, somehow I knew she loved me and the precious time spent with her shaped me and gave me a sense of adventure about life because that was her spirt and she had a zest for life. She made every overnight special and every trip to town a grand day. I regret that she was not a woman of faith and family later spoke of her character flaws and failures. But to me as a child, she was MiMi, the one who loved me.
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