≡ My Grandmother ≡

My grandmother was not only generous in spirit, she was generous with her wallet, or rather, her huge purse.  She loved to shop, as did me and my mother, and she loved to buy things for us, much to my mother's chagrin.  Anything I looked at for more than two seconds my grandmother would say, "Do you want me to buy that for you?  I would love to buy that for you darling."  No matter how great my desire, feeling the heat from my mother's disapproving glare, I always responded "No, Grandma."

To avoid my mother's wrath, even at a young age, I quickly learned how to conduct myself on our little shopping trips:   limit the amount of time I spent looking at any one item and act indifferent towards each product I saw.  If I dared to reveal any signs of want, I ran the risk of initiating a seemingly playful, yet scarily serious, battle between my mother and grandmother--a war my mother waged to admonish my grandmother for the amount of money she liked to spend on me and my brothers and sisters.

Yet at some point in every trip my grandmother's insistence would start to wear down my mother's resistance and I would end up getting something out of our little ventures (as would my mother, but only under extreme protest).  Such was the case with the Raggedy Ann Lamp.  I loved it from the first moment I laid eyes on it.  It was so lovely, and my adoration and yearning were so great, I couldn't stop myself from looking at it longer and more lovingly than my mother had trained me to do.  I imagined the way its beautiful red and white checked shade would look in my room and I couldn't resist wishing my grandmother would buy it for me.  Luckily, I had calculated the timing of my covetousness perfectly.  It was late in the day and with my mother's exhaustion--and the resulting weakness of her protestations--the lamp was mine in no time.  I loved that lamp and I can remember thinking on the way home that with it, my life was perfect.

Although I loved my grandmother for her sweet, nurturing nature, her positive energy, and her boundless affection, as a small child I am sure part of the bond between us stemmed from our mutual affection for beautiful things and my grandmother's desire to share her love of objects with us.  It was a tangible symbol of her love for us and one that I could not resist enjoying, no matter how hard my mother tried.