Tribute
My grandmother was a wonderful storyteller. She wasn’t a very good housekeeper. She couldn’t bake to save her life. And her cooking was so bad her sons put Tabasco sauce or ketchup on everything…even her mashed potatoes.
But she could spin a yarn.
Most of the stories she told me when I was kid were Cherokee stories like How the Creator Gave the Strawberry to the Cherokee, Where the Dog Ran, or How the Turtle Got His Broken Shell. My favorites were ghost stories that she swore were true. Since I was born on Halloween, I have a natural love of all things spooky.
When I became a mom and my children grew old enough for bedtime stories, I passed on her stories to my kids. Each time I told one of those tales, I felt I was passing on a piece of her. Sadly she died before any of my children were born. But in a sense, they know her through the tales she told that I pass along.
A month ago, I became a grandma for the first time. I can’t wait until my DGS is old enough to listen his grandma tell him why the Milky Way is called Where the Dog Ran. And I can’t wait until he asks, “Nana, how’d the turtle get his broken shell?”
Do you have a favorite story you want to pass on to your kids and grandkids?
July 17, 2009 at 7:54 am
My grandma told us stories as if they were the truth, but I never really knew. One time she said Belle Starr had been their neighbor. In my fertile imagination, Belle was a beautiful, exciting outlaw, robbing the rich and helping out the poor. For a long time when we cowboys and indians, I was Belle Starr.
Maybe that’s the reason why.
And to this day, I love to collect stars.
Susan
July 17, 2009 at 3:00 pm
What a great tribute to your grandmother. And what a wonderful legacy you’re passing on to the next generation(s).
I seem to have lost the stories my grandmother told me. Or least they’re stuck so far back in my head, I can’t find them. Don’t know if you could call it a ’senior moment’ or not, but that’s my excuse, anyway.
Thanks for sharing and making my day better.
July 17, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Susan, what a coinkydink, my great grandmother was named for Belle Starr! And how cool that even as a kid, you were making up stories.
Lynn
July 17, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Thanks, Linda.
BTW, hope you enjoy your ride to Arkansas this weekend!
Lynn
July 17, 2009 at 10:49 pm
Lynn,
For me, it’s not a story, it’s a song. My dad used to sing it to all the kids and he taught it to any toddler he got his hands on. It used to drive my mom crazy because it’s an old drinking song. I can’t wait to teach it to my grandkids. My kids will sure recognize it… spw
July 18, 2009 at 10:14 am
Sandee:
An old drinking song? I love that! We have this quirky tradition with my kids. On Sunday morning, on the way home from church we crank up the stereo and ring along to Bohemian Rhapsody at the top of our lungs.
Lynn
July 18, 2009 at 11:19 am
My grandmother taugth us German, and there was a song she sang as she bounced us on her knees, “Hupple hupple reider.” Not sure on the German spelling. One of my favorite stories to pass along will be one from my father on my mother about the time she used 1/2 can of Crisco to fry bacon. I’ve got a ton of stories for grandbabies about my mom.
July 18, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Wonderful memories for you and the new grandbaby, Lynn.
I didn’t get to spend nearly as much time as I would have liked with my maternal grandmother, since my grandpa was a preacher and they moved around quite a bit. But my paternal granny lived right across the railroad tracks from us. She wasn’t a story teller, but she sure was fun. She looked like Granny Clampett and dipped snuff, and even though we were all bigger than her by the time we were ten, we knew we couldn’t get away with nothin’ around her.
When we were little, my dad used to sing this song to us: “It’s time to feed the chickens or they’re gonna raise a dickens.” Every Saturday. At six in the morning. We hated it.
And, of course, I often sang it to my son.
July 19, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Meg,
A half a can of Crisco to fry bacon? I can feel my arteries hardening. That reminds me of the time I tried to make milk flour gravy with self-rising flour. We had gravy pancakes.
LSomerville
July 19, 2009 at 7:17 pm
Marilyn:
That’s a cute song. My MIL used to wake my husband at 6 a.m singing “Rise and shine, it’s almost noon.” No wonder he’s a crouch in the mornings.
LSomerville
July 19, 2009 at 10:48 pm
I only saw my grandmother for two weeks a year since she lived in Ohio. And she taught me tons of hymns, what she sang every day as she did her housework.
It may be for the best I DON’T have grandkids since I’d be teaching them “filksongs”. That’s SF folk songs. I used to play tapes of filk in my car and me and my kids would travel down the road singing about Wookies “making Whoopee”.