• Butter and sugar sandwiches
  • Reading “Honey Bunch” and “Horse In The House”
  • Being rescued by her after falling from the swing
  • Shalimar
  • The framed Emily Dickinson poem in her bathroom that talks about how if you help just one hurting person, you haven’t lived in vain
  • Her faith, that I hope is also mine
  • Popovers at The Hedges at Nieman Marcus
  • The time she parked her car on my foot to keep me from going out to a club when I was 15
  • The time she sat on me at 16 for the same reason. She was a big lady, and she threw me to the ground and sat on me
  • The bird in the cage tschotske that hangs in her kitchen
  • The “Sit Long, Talk Much” sign that did hang in her kitchen and now hangs in mine
  • Pimento cheese
  • Wet washcloths in a zip lock bag for cleaning hands at the ends of outing
  • The symphony
  • The Nutcracker, which I always hated, but loved being with her in attendance
  • Learning What One Wears to the theater
  • White gloves and white patent leather shoes, new ones for each Easter of my girlhood
  • Her almost compulsive urge to put some sort of medicine on even the smallest boo boo
  • Tea parties
  • Tea rooms
  • Tee length dresses
  • Baby powder
  • Wearing her glasses and looking at myself in the mirror in her hallway
  • Crossword puzzles
  • An Easter egg tree
  • Wreaths
  • How she loves babies
  • She helped me make the Teenagers first stocking
  • Long phone calls
  • Love without boundaries
  • The first time I heard her drop an f-bomb
  • Her constant presence, throughout every second of my life, the knowing that she was there for me

I love you, Gram, and being your granddaughter has been an honor, and a privilege. Thank you. Thank you for loving me so very, very much.