Grandmother Bailey
I am sure that she was young once, like all of us. I am sure she didn’t always look, well, like a grandmother. But for almost 40 years AS my grandmother, she seemed to be to be born looking like that. Looking like my grandmother.
I can’t remember her without an apron
My earliest memories of her go back to when I was probably 3 or 4 years old. I remember vividly the house she shared with my grandfather. I remember the murphy table that was on hinges in the kitchen and could be placed flat against the wall or let down to serve as a small kitchen table.
I remember the smell of that house. It was a clean smell mixed with a smell of plastic and a smell of something cooking. Usually okra.
I remember her wearing an apron all the time. In fact, when I conjure up memories of my dear grandmother, my first and second and third memories and many more after that are of her in the kitchen, cooking for us. Or playing the role of a jack-in-the-box by sitting down just long enough to notice someone’s sweet tea was half gone so she would POP up to get them a refill.
I am not sure I ever watched her eat a bite of food.
The love I felt from my grandparents was more felt than heard
My grandparents, especially Grandmother Bailey (Johnnie Mae Bailey) were selective with their praise. Might even say they were stingy with it.
But anytime I walked into their house, my Grandmother would jump up out of whatever seat she was in and give me a hug and make me feel like I just made her day. Her next question was always “Are you hungry?’
She never waited for a reply.
She would get the flat metal cookie sheet and start slicing Velveeta cheese. In just a few moments, I was eating grilled cheese whether I wanted it or not…
She LOVED to do things for others, especially cook. I felt like she was happiest when the whole family was there, sitting around their long dining room table as she finished up the last batch of okra. Always okra.
She was tough and expected you to be, too
Once when my parents were out of town, my brother and I were staying with my grandparents for a few days. During that stay, I had a baseball game. This is mid-July in East Tennessee. The weather was hot, sticky, humid and unrelenting. I was in my full polyester uniform and we began our drive to the baseball field, about a 15 minute drive.
With 10 minutes remaining before we arrived at the field, my grandmother just casually turned off all the air conditioning in the car. Seconds later I was sweating and gasping for air. I said “Grandmother, turn on the air!”
She said, “Now honey, its hot outside. IF you go the ballgame with air conditioning, you will not be used to the heat and humidity. So you need to ride back there to get used to it.”
By the time we arrived, I had lost 7 pounds.
Cades Cove
My grandparents would often take us (my brother and me) to the Great Smoky Mountains national park about 30 minutes away from their home. We would go during the hottest time of the year and for some reason, as we drove around the Cades Cove loop, we couldn’t roll the windows down. So we sat in the backseat looking through the fogged up backseat windows for an hour while we “counted the deer”.
We had a single sleeve of saltine crackers and a room temp jug of water. The jug was one of those were the spigot was at the bottom and they only brought along those cone-shaped cups that wouldn’t sit flat.
So basically, the room temp water was only there in theory. No one could successfully tip the jug back far enough to get the cone-shaped cup under the spigot without having to let go of the cup, which, of course, would tip over.
The various ways we tried to get water was creative, laughable and always unsuccessful. I have never craved hot water so badly.
She was definitely old-school
It was my understanding that until she was 82 or 83 years old, she had never taken any medicine at all. No Tylenol. No cough medicine. No Ibuprofen.
She always was working. In the garden. Vacuuming under the beds. Deep cleaning the carpets. Wiping off doorknobs. Cleaning out the tracks of the sliding glass door.
She didn’t waste money on frivolous things like 2-ply toilet paper. The going joke was “what is the difference between the toilet paper at Johnnie Mae’s house and sandpaper? Sandpaper has a soft side.”
We all loved her
If anyone was ever loved on this earth, it was my grandmother. Everyone loved her. Friends, neighbors, fellow church members and especially her family. Frankly, since she passed on April 3, 2009, its not really been the same.
After she passed, my parents found a blanket in her closet that she had made. It was an afghan-type blanket and it had my name on it. There was a note that explained that she wanted me to have this ONLY after she passed.
It is my favorite blanket and one I will use forever. It smells like a combination of clean, plastic and …..okra.
