Visiting Grandma

My parents travel quite a bit, and when they're out of town, I usually try to check in on my 90-year-old grandmother at least once. Last night, I stopped by with my older son, and we saw a flock of about 20 birds on the lawn behind her house. They were pretty good-sized, maybe the size of a pheasant. I think maybe they were a type of grouse, but I'm no bird expert.

We were visiting, and my grandma started talking about the sororities they had when she went to college, and how she didn't like them much because the sorority girls tended to look down on everyone else. In any case, she was from a small farm town, it was the Depression, and she couldn't afford to join a sorority, either. She commented, "Once, we were passing by one of the sororities, and we saw a girl hanging out the window with no clothes on!" She then added matter-of-factly, "Blaine [my grandfather] watched that window pretty closely after that."

I love little stories like this and hope at least my older children will remember knowing their great-grandmother. Her stories of growing up in the Depression are more relevant than ever today, yet so far removed from the experience of my children (no running water, refrigeration, etc.).