Grandpa Harry is my Dad’s grandpa. My memories of him are kinda vague, since I think I was only about 8 when he died. (I’ll check on that when the aunts wake up, they get a little grumpy when I wake them up at 5 am, to ask dumb questions!!) Update: He died when I was one. Very vague memories- lol!!
Uh, I have Coke all over my face!! Turns out Harry died in 1962. Doubt I was running to the store at 1!! Well, I am a Cokeaholic and a chocoholic, so it’s possible! So, who was Grandma Little Annie living with?? (She, herself, and she?? It don’t work out the same.) No wonder I had such vague memories of Great Grandpa Harry!! This is serious! Here I have this whole story, and half of it is a lie! Maybe she outlived him, and I saw his ghost once in a while?? This mystery has to be solved!! Anyway, the rest of the post is entertaining at least!! Uh, at least to YOU!
He was tall, and Grandma Little Annie by the Store, (Her real name, I swear! Ok, the name Bubba and I called her. Also, some of the aunts my age. Can you guess where they lived??) was tiny. Why do tall men always marry tiny, little women?? And who does that leave for us giant women?? Yeah, short men that we could snap like toothpicks if we ever got mad enough!
I was so happy that day!!! He was mine, all mine!! I already knew he was dying, but by God, he was gonna be my husband when he died, not my boyfriend!! Widows get respect, and rights. Girlfriends get jack squat.
Once again, I feel like I’ve wandered off topic…
Sis wasn’t born yet, so for sure 1969, when I was 8, and younger. Finally used a life line and called a friend.
Anyway, they lived very close to the mine Grandpa Hawkins worked at too. I guess it was a family tradition? They lived in one of the little row houses, especially built for the miners. And I AM not exaggerating on the little part!
As a side note, when the mine shutdown, the housing was used for migrant strawberry pickers. And weirdly, my family lived in one for a summer. I only slept there 2 nights! Everybody had to go thru Sis’ bedroom to get to bathroom. And there was some kind of snake incident.. Seems as if it was IN the bathroom?? That shaking, and noise you heard, just now, was me shuddering. I HATE SNAKES. So much so, that I’ve killed 3. Uh oh, here I am off topic again. Well, their tiny house, we lived in one…. I see how I got here.
Grandma Little Annie would give Bubba and I a quarter each!! Man, we had a fortune!! Mercy, it was a wonder Mama didn’t mug us for bread money! Update: Google says a Coke was 25 cents, and a candy bar a nickel. I think I’m right on this one, that the Coke only cost 20 cents. I AIN”T making no more corrections!!
I know I look like a doof, but whatcha gonna do?? Maybe get a better photographer than yourself to take the selfies??
Anyway, we were so gleeful!! All the way there… pondering what treasures awaited us, and the bounty we’d procure. And I’m very sure you thought those exact words! Of course!! I’d seen pirate cartoons, matey!
Always a little Coke, ice cold, in those cute curvy bottles. Never in my life have I ever drank a Coke that tasted better than those glass bottles! My Granny Chaney used to have them sometime, and I’d want to take them all and bury them like a bone, to savor later! But thankfully, my rational mind kicked in. Hot Cokes DO NOT Taste GOOD at ALL!!
But then the real debate started. Which candy to choose?? Or perhaps a crunchy bag of chips?? What to do?? What to do??
Ya know me, so ya know I always chose chocolate!! Probably Baby Ruth, most often, sometimes Zero, white chocolate is yummy too! Uh oh, now I gotta go Google them to make sure my memory’s correct! The whole story would fall apart if they weren’t even invented then! BRB
Baby Ruth in the 30s, whew! Okay with that one. I knew my taste buds wouldn’t lie to me! Zero in the 20s. 2 for 2!!
So, basically, I remember my Hawkins great grandparent, (ghost Harry had already turned over his pension to Grandma Little Annie by the store! And apparently it was a good one, since Grandpa, and Grandma had 8 kids! ) for feeding my sweet tooth! Thank you Grandma Little Annie for sharing, and Great Grandpa Harry for working so hard before you died~~from the bottom of my yummy tummy!!
Oh, almost forgot, Grandma Little Annie was Great Grandpa Harry’s 2nd wife. Update: Uh, found out she was 4th wife. Another scandal uncovered! Dear mercy! Maybe I better stop with the grateful for Grandparents series!!
I am thankful that I had a Great Grandpa Harry Hawkins, and for his 3rd wife Minnie Pearl, my biological great grand mother. Otherwise I wouldn’t have had my Grandpa Hawkins, or my Dad, or ultimately me! And I’m grateful for Grandma Little Annie by the store. Even if she’s a total figment of my imagination!! Update: Which she’s not! Whew!!
PurpleSlobinRecovery2.0 