Growing up, margarine was like the forbidden fruit in our household. Mom was a strict butter-only cook and refused to ever replace it with the "good stuff." She tried convincing us that it didn't cook the same, had a different flavor and was bad for a person. And butter's not?! Lol
When my brother got engaged, I started working on a cookbook for his new wife. Shawn is notorious for being a picky eater so I thought it would help if Nikki had some recipes he liked, but also some of our family recipes.
I knew off the top of my head what recipes my brother would want from Grandma Marcene--her mashed potato recipe, her frozen peas recipe and the strawberry-jello-with-banana-slices recipe. Such recipes are extremely easy and require no secret ingredient, other than MARGARINE!!!
We used to get so excited to eat with Grandma & Grandpa because we could slather everything in the yummy Country Crock margarine...and thus, the start of my love affair with margarine :-)
Almost one year ago, I received the dreaded call at work saying that Grandma wasn't going to make it. She'd been in the hospital after yet another fall and during a stroke that morning, she aspirated causing her lungs to fill with fluid and her organs were failing.
Our family was no stranger to such calls asking the family to gather by her bedside. But this time it was the real deal--the "Energizer Bunny" was no longer and even her doctor said he didn't expect her to come back kicking harder than before. Deep down, I wished it was just another false alarm but this time was different--she was at peace and I knew it was finally her time.
We managed to get through the holidays without her or Grandpa and it'll be weird not having them at our wedding in September. But at least I can think of her and smile everytime I get to eat margarine :-)
They say the memories will always live on so here are my Top 10 Memories of Grandma:
10. Every Christmas when we were little, Grandma & Grandpa would take us to Concordia to pick out a toy at Wal-Mart and then eat at Burger King...oh what fun!!! Especially the year one of us kids caught diarrhea half way between Clifton and Concordia!
9. One time when we were at the Yellow House, I was spinning Shawn around on the office chair & Grandma said to stop before he threw up. I didn't believe her since it didn't happen right then, but it did later that night and I think Shawn made sure to throw in a little extra just to prove me wrong!
8. After they moved to Clay Center, I was picking on Shawn and Grandma threatened to bend me over her red checkered apron. But, I knew she didn't have a red checkered apron so I kept at it--I quickly learned that it was a reference to not an actual apron, but a spanking!!!
7. In grade school, we were told by our parents that we were no longer allowed to ride with Grandma Marcene. In fact, if they wanted to take us anywhere, Grandpa had to be the driver. NO EXCEPTIONS!!! And we couldn't tell Grandma why--that was the tricky part!
6. I vividly remember riding downtown in Grandma's Buick Park Avenue when she blew through a red light and then asked us what color it was! Oh, we thought it was the funnest thing ever and were so excited to tell Mom & Dad...however, that led to Memory #7. In her last few years, she no longer could operate the foot pedals, so she used her cane to do so; her crippled hands couldn't turn over the ignition, but a pair of pliers did the trick! All her Assisted Living buddies bragged about how she was such a great driver while we cringed whenever we found out she was on the loose!
5. The summer Shawn got married, I stopped by Grandma's Hospital room to find her watching David Banner's "Get Like Me" music video. I asked her what she was watching and she said, "oh, I don't know--one of the girls just turned it to this channel." If you know much about my Grandma, you'd know why I about died seeing her watching rap music!
4. During basketball season, I'd call Grandma before the KU tip-offs and she'd tell me who all the starters were that night and who was on the Injury List. Even at 90 years young and loaded up on meds, she knew her KU ball players and their stats!
3. When I picked Mitzy up from the breeders, I took her to see Grandma & Grandpa...in all seriousness, Grandma was very concerned about how I'd keep the cockelburrs off of her! Once I reminded her that I live in town, her fears were eased and she cuddled up to Miss Mitzy
2. During High School, I would stay at the grandparents' the night before my tennis meets and debate/forensic tournaments. No matter how early my morning started, Grandma was in the kitchen heating me up a Tasty Pasty Nut Roll
1. During Grandma's last "fun" trip to Manhattan shortly before she died, she, Mom and I went to lunch at the Wareham and Grandma even managed the elevator to my apt in Aggie Village. In her crippled state, this was such a big occassion for her! Hearing her talk of her days working at the Wareham, studying at K-State and describing how Manhattan was during the 1940s was priceless :-)
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