Memory Lane: February 4, 2010

(Gram, Dawn and Gramp -- September 1982)

within a span of less than a week, my Gram & Gramp would have celebrated their 93rd and 92nd birthdays, respectively. (Gram was born February 4 and Gramp was born January 30.) i've had some random birthday-related memories bouncing around inside my head as i remember them on the anniversaries of their births.

**Gram was born during a snow storm. her family lived out in the country, on the top of a hill, and the doctor couldn't get there to deliver her. her father had to assist her into this world. every year, in the week surrounding her birthday, there was snow or ice (or in the warmer years, some heavy rain)...until the first birthday following her passing--that year the sun shone fiercely in the bitter cold.

**Gram never made a birthday cake for herself. she would roll her eyes as she stuck a candle into whatever bit of dessert followed dinner. even when i was old enough to step up to the task of making a cake for her birthday, she would insist that i not do so.

**Gram always made a Boston Cream Pie for Gramp's birthday. it was a slippery-slidy gooey delicious mess. it was the only time she made one every year.

**it was impossible to buy a gift for Gramp. the man didn't want anything, other than to be outside, digging in the dirt. and if he did want something, he just bought it for himself. he had no desire for anything that wasn't useful. it didn't help that his birthday came a month after Christmas.

**Gram was the exact opposite. she loved anything pretty to tuck into this corner or onto that shelf. she loved making her home beautiful. i would have to cut myself off from Christmas shopping for her & let the overflow keep until her birthday. and i still had to cut myself off.