It Takes a Family

Nana is fortunate to have lots of family who care so much for her.  Last week, all four of her kids helped her in some way. 

Wayne stopped in several times to check on her and open any jars or bottles she can't open.  Her hands have become so arthritic that many tasks we take for granted - like buttoning a shirt or writing a check - have become very difficult.

Although Sharon was in Black Lake, she kept in touch with daily phone calls.  Sharon also was with her Sunday evening to fix her pill cases and crush the ones she can't swallow.  Sharon and I devised this system after Nana was ill in 2010.  It works well and Nana is very faithful at taking everything on schedule. 

Bill and Marcia stopped by on Sunday to give Nana the church bulletin and bring some yummy leftovers and dessert from their lunch.  Nana is apprehensive about church because her back has been so painful lately. 

In addition to our daily phone calls, last Friday I talked her through a tornado warning.  She was very frightened and I gave her instructions to get her teeth in, put on her shoes and take her jacket and purse to the bottom of the steps.  We stayed on the phone while I watched WNEP 16 weather live on my computer.  To be safe, we switched to the cell phone when the lightening was so severe.  I breathed a sigh of relief when I knew the danger had passed.  Wayne was in touch with us that night also just in case he needed to go get her.

In addition to her four kids, she is very close to Lori and Jeff, who are more like her kids than her grandchildren.

The night of the tornado, Jeff stopped in and fixed Nana's weather radio and he's always available for a weather update.
 
Lori calls from Delaware often and keeps her supplied with stories and pictures of Ollie and Sidney.  Lori and Nate's visit with the boys in June was such a joy to Nana.

I think Nana is very lucky to have so many people who care about her.  And we are so lucky to still have Nana in our lives! 

Summer of '57

The summer of 1957 was our first summer living in the Staggert place.  We called it the Staggert place because we bought it from the Staggert family.  Us kids were so excited to have a big yard with green grass!  At first, we didn't have an inside toilet, but Daddy installed one soon after we moved in.  That was life changing for us.  No more running outside to the "out house" or using the "pee bucket" in Mommy and Daddy's bedroom. 

This picture of Wayne, Sharon, Bill and I is the only one we have of all of us as children.  I think Wayne's hat may have come from Uncle Harold - Tud as we called him - who was in the Navy.  Sharon's hair was as short as I have ever seen her wear it and Bill to this day still likes to put his hands in his pockets.  I squinted into the sun with the innocent smile of a seven year old.  

Behind us is the door that opened to the stairs into the cellar.  In those days, houses had cellars, not basements.  In the corner of the cellar sat the sump pump, ready to suck out water when spring rains flooded the dirt floor.  Also in the cellar was the gigantic coal furnace and the dusty bins for coal storage.  For many years the cellar was also home to Nana's ancient wringer washer.  I remember catching the smashed clothes that she fed into the wringer that looked like two constantly spinning roller pins.  Nana never had a dryer so after the clothes made several trips through the wringer, she hauled the heavy basket of wet clothes up the rickety wooden steps and out to the backyard clothes lines.

  

Although we were poor, we seemed quite happy in this picture.  I think we were oblivious to all the work Nana did for us.  She washed and ironed our clothes and cooked lots of delicious meals. Later she went to work in a factory to pay the bills.  She sacrificed to make our lives better.  Thank You Nana!

Sharon, Wayne, Diane and Bill in the Summer of 1957

Nana and Peaches

This time of year when peaches are in season, it always reminds me of my memories of Nana and peaches.  I remember living at the Bower place and it was September.  School was already started, but the weather was still warm.  After walking down the long dusty lane from the main road where the school bus dropped us off, Sharon and Wayne and I (Bill was not in school yet) saw Nana sitting on the long porch on the side of the battered house, peeling a gigantic bushel of plump fuzzy peaches. 

Each year, Nana bought a bushel of peaches to put in canning jars for the winter. Money was scarce so each peach was precious.  We begged her for a taste of those sunny yellow juicy pieces of fruit.  I can still taste the slippery flesh of the ripe peach and remember the sticky juice running down my arm.  Come winter, we were grateful for Nana's work at peeling and canning the peaches in quart mason jars. When we ate the preserved fruit swimming in a thick sugary syrup, it was like the pleasure of that September day all over again.



Nana and "Those Boys"

Lori and Nate brought Ollie and Sidney for a Pennsylvania visit last week.  Nana had been waiting for their visit with 2 identical toy trucks for the boys.  She showed them to me months ago and explained, "I had to get them alike or they might fight over them."  She might have been basing that on the years she took care of Lori and her brother Jeff.  I think Nana did some referee time when they were growing up.  Nana tells lots of stories about when Lori and Jeff were little.  This trip she repeated Lori's weather story.  Nana tells it like this...
  "I watched the weather to make sure that it was going to be sunny so I could hang clothes outside on the clothes line.  No sooner did I fill the lines when the sky clouded over and it started to rain.  As I was grumbling about how the weather man was wrong and that I couldn't count on him to tell me the truth, Lori looked at me and said, "Nana, if you want to know about the weather, just look up at the sky."

Nana has told me that story so many times and she chuckles with glee every time.  It must be hard for her to believe that now Lori has children of her own. 

When we got to the hotel where Lori and Nate and the boys were staying, we could hear the noise and chatter even from the hall.  We sat Nana in a chair and Lori brought the boys to talk to Nana.  Sid seemed to be in awe of Nana and kept pointing and saying, "Nana, Nana."  Although Nana was tired from the heat and her toe pain, her eyes lit up every time Sid started his Nana chorus.

When Nana gave the boys their trucks, they were obviously excited.  When all the adults in the room found that we needed a full set of tools and an engineering degree to extract the trucks from the packaging, Sharon and I knew we needed Plan B.

We whisked the trucks away from the tearful boys and - thanks to Sharon's great idea - headed to the Dollar General to return and exchange.  Luckily Jen, the supervisor, took pity on us and allowed an exchange for 2 small dump trucks and a pack of tiny cars.  When Nana gave them the new toys, the boys immediately started playing.  Whew, that saved the day!
 
Breakfast with Lori and Nate and the boys at May's - Nana's every-day pancake spot - brought more fun with Ollie and Sid. After we said our goodbyes, Nana was silent for a while and seemed to be thinking.  Then she shook her head and said, "Those boys."  I said, "Yes, aren't they so cute?"  Nana said, "Yes and they're so good-looking."

Well done, Lori and Nate.  Your visit was a success!

Nana with Sid and Ollie