February 17th marks three years since
Sharon left us to become an Angel in Heaven. I’m sure Nana was there to greet
her. The only blessing for me on that day was Nana had gone to Heaven first.
For Nana, losing one of her girls would’ve broken her heart. Nana loved her two
boys, but there was always a special connection between Nana and Sharon and me.
During the 1970’s, before Sharon had children,
Saturdays were shopping days for Nana and Sharon and me. One of our favorite
places was going to the Nittany Mall in State College, Pennsylvania. Nana still
worked at the Montgomery Mills Factory, making barely $3 an hour. Sharon and I
both had full time jobs. But if there was a coat I wanted and I didn’t have the
money, it was Nana who helped me pay for it. If Sharon saw a sweater out of her
budget, Nana stepped in so she could have it. Even with her low income, Nana
was frugal and always made sure she had money to shop with us. Although Nana
bought some things for herself, I remember her greatest joy was being the one
to make sure we could have what we wanted.
While we were growing up, Nana wasn’t able to give us
extras. Sharon and I got a lot of our clothes as donations from well-to-do
relatives of my Aunt Elizabeth, Nana’s sister. Opening up the big black garbage
bag of hand-me-downs with dresses and blouses and skirts was like a shopping
spree. Nana was grateful for the generosity, but it hurt her to take charity.
She was doing the best she could feeding four kids on a factory job while my
dad used his money for trips to the local bar.
When Nana got divorced and tackled life on her own,
she knew she wasn’t totally alone. Not only her girls, but her boys, supported
her through car breakdowns, house repairs and unemployment.
In 1993, Sharon and I encouraged Nana to sell her
house and move into a second floor, one bedroom apartment outside Montgomery. Nana
loved her new home, especially the cozy balcony overlooking corn fields lined
with lush trees.
In 1999, we helped Nana make a trip to Austin, Texas for
her granddaughter Shelly’s wedding. Nana was returning there for the first time
since 1943, when she lived there while Daddy was stationed with the Army at Camp
Swift. It thrilled Sharon and I to see Nana visit the places she remembered—the
address of the boarding house where she lived (which was now an office
building), the grounds of the State Capitol with all its statues, and, most of
all, the fields of Texas Blue Bonnets, her favorite flower.
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| Diane and Nana and Sharon Austin Texas March 1999 |
In 2010, at age 86, Nana faced a flurry of health
problems. She had four hospitalizations and three back surgeries in one year.
Sharon and I were with her as she fought her way back to be home and
independent. While in the hospital, she was always anxious for our visits. When
we arrived, the nurses would tell us Nana kept saying, “Where are my girls?”
As Nana’s girls, Sharon and I made a pact to keep Nana
in her beloved apartment as long as possible. Between us, we coordinated her
doctor’s visits, her medications, her supplements and her meals. Nana loved to
go and we made sure she got to go out to eat as much as possible. Sharon and I
took her to Wendy’s, May’s Drive-In in Hughesville, and for her favorite fish
sandwiches at The Fence in Lewisburg. Between my visits to Pennsylvania, Sharon
and Nana often did drive-through meals. Something Sharon called car picnics.
Nana loved it.
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| Nana having a car picnic 2016 |
Nana loved all three of us being together, but she
also didn’t mind when Sharon and I got some alone time as sisters. Because we
lived at a distance from each other, in-person times for Sharon and I were a
special treat for me. It might just be riding along with her to take one of her
kitties to the vet. Or sometimes we took a quick trip to the local
Tastee-Freeze for an ice cream cone. During those times, we talked constantly.
There’s something about a bond with a sister that transcends distance and time.
Even when Nana had to go into Watsontown Nursing Home
in 2018, Sharon and I made sure she always had her snacks. M&M’s, KitKats
and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. We arranged for her to have her hair washed and
set each week, so she felt loved and pretty. Sharon took charge of her laundry
and visited almost every day. I called Nana every day and visited several days each
month. Nana knew ‘her girls’ were taking care of her.
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| Diane and Sharon at Watsontown Nursing Home November 2019 |
When Nana went to Heaven, I remember Sharon and I
standing by her casket. I said to Sharon, “We took really good care of Nana.”
She agreed, “Yes we did.”
Because that’s what Nana’s girls did for her.
I hope now Sharon is reunited with Nana in Heaven. I
miss them both every day.
Someday Nana and her girls will all be together again, but until then, I’ll savor our special memories together.
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| Sharon and Nana and Diane February 2020 The last time we were all together in person |
