Summers at Grandma’s House

My favorite childhood memories revolve around time spent with my grandma, Elgie. She was crippled from arthritis, but she loved having us grandkids around. I loved watching her cook. She taught me more about cooking than my own mother. Her best dishes were homemade buttermilk biscuits and chicken and dumplings. Another was her fried green apples. Hers beat Cracker Barrel’s.

Grandma was a staunch Presbyterian. She had a quote for everything. If I asked her if I was pretty, she would reply “pretty is as pretty does” and “favor is deceitful and beauty is vain: but a woman that fears the Lord, she shall be praised.”

Grandma wanted girls to be proper. I loved to whistle, but she would say “whistling girls and crowing hens never come to any good end.”

Another memory was her was her phobia of thunderstorms. She would get me to sit with her when a thunderstorm came up. Boy, she could whoop and holler at those thunder claps.
Grandma didn’t like snakes either. One day when a black snake crawled into her living room, I was called to dispose of it. I took a garden hoe and chopped it into pieces. Who knew they were harmless.

Another thing about Grandma was her love of soap operas. You didn’t bother her when Guiding Light and General Hospital were on. When I was around 12, I started piano lessons. Since my family had no piano, I learned on Grandma’s. The only catch was I could only practice during commercials. I did that for six years. Amazed I ever learned a thing. But, oh, the things I learned from Grandma. Every time I see a black snake or witness a thunderstorm or hear a whistling girl, I think of her.

Rebecca Lewis, Troy, a member of Randolph EMC