Grandma Ruby

Today is my Grandma Ruby's birthday. She has been gone for 18 years now, but I still have some very vivid, very good memories of her, so I want to share them with you.
One of the things I remember about Grandma isn't so much about her, but where she lived. She lived in the most cool places! When I was little, she lived about some shops on Broadway in Excelsior. Really what she had was a loft apartment, though of course I didn't know that at the time. I do know that I really liked it a lot and it was a great place to play hide and seek in and she would play hide and seek with us from time to time. I remember spending the night there from time to time and I always enjoyed that. I remember that she had bubble bath in a Woody Woodpecker bottle that we got to use at bathtime. I had that bottle for quite a while and then I decided I didn't need to keep it. Now that Connor has arrived and hopefully when he gets older will spend some nights with us, I wish I had kept it. But I don't need the bottle to remember.
Then she lived in an apartment above Prichard's Funeral Home. She would answer the phone and the door when the employees were out and she would lock up in the evening. Most of my friends thought it was pretty creepy that she lived about a funeral home, but when you got upstairs, it was just a nice, big apartment. Again, though, I thought it was a really cool place. My cousin Lesa and I would spend the night there occassionally and the room we slept in had seven windows. I just loved that. And by the way, when you walk into a funeral home carrying pillows and suitcases, you get some weird looks!
After that, she moved to an apartment down the street above some shops where she lived until she died. Again, I thought it was a really nice apartment and I enjoyed visiting her there. By then, I was grown and a mom so I never spent the night there, but I loved the feel. Maybe it wasn't the actual places that she lived that touched me so much but rather the person who lived there.
Grandma Ruby always lived in downtown Excelsior (well, as far back as I can remember, anyway!). When we were little, Grandma and Grandad Stevenson lived out in the country, so Grandma Ruby was "Town Grandma" and Grandma Faye was "Country Grandma".
Grandma always had butter rum life savers in the pockets of her dress. Occassionally I will buy a roll. It's not that I am overly fond of them - I prefer cherry. But just the smell reminds me of her and I find it comforting.
I am sure my love of reading was passed down from her to my mother to me. Grandma always had tons of books. She had lots and lots of the Reader's Digest condensed books. There was never a lack of something to read there. She took the Reader's Digest magazine and when I come across them in waiting rooms, I think of reading them when I was at her house. My favorite book at her house was a second grade reader from the early 1900's that had "Jack and the Beanstock" in it. I loved that story. I think she regretted ever reading it to me because I loved it so much and always wanted that store. One day when I was older and we were talking about it, she told me that she couldn't leave out any of the story because I knew it all by heart! I still love that story and I still have that book. When Connor gets a little older, I will read it to him. But maybe I will make it a little shorter!
When I became pregnant, I was worried what she would think. She was 60 years old when I was born, and although there were unmarried mothers, it wasn't as prevalent as it is now. But the only thing she really had to say was that she was worried "because he wouldn't have a name". I told her of course he would - it was Hampton! But I know what she was saying and if she was sad or disappointed, she didn't show it. She just worried a little. Money was tight for me when Derek was little and occassionally I would go to her and ask for a little help. She would just hand me her checkbook and tell me to write it for what I needed. I hated asking her but she was always there and she never let me pay her back. I never took advantage and only wrote the check for what would get me by and I was grateful for her help.
When grocery stores started moving away from downtown and not offering delivery it became harder for her to shop as she never learned to drive. So I began to take her shopping. That was fine for a while, but after Derek became a toddler, it became a little harder. You see, when grandma shopped, she would push her cart around. When she saw something she wanted, she would just let go of the cart and go get her item. So Derek is heading off one way, the cart is going another and Grandma Ruby was in another direction! It could be quite challenging! One time, we ran into Mom and Garret at the store and mom was kind enough to take Derek home with her. That made things easier. We finally got to the point where she would just give me her list and I would go to the store for her. That was quite a bit easier as long as I got the right things. She could be very particular about what brand or size she wanted! But I was honored to be able to do that for her and I enjoyed visiting with her before and after the shopping trip.
My grandma Ruby was a neat person. I always knew that, but once I was grown I appreciated her more and I know how special she was. Happy birthday Grandma!