Little Grandma Great

Dear Lil:

During my lifetime, I was fortunate to have one Great Grandparent.  The others were all gone by the time I came along.  Everybody called her Little Grandma; because she absolutely was very very little. She was Grandpa Campbell's mother and she lived on the dairy farm with Grandma and Grandpa Campbell.

It was pretty easy to find Little Grandma.  She was always sitting in the same place.  She had a special chair just inside the doorway when you walked into the living room.  It was a tradition that when you went to Grandma and Grandpa's house, you had to walk through that door to say "hello" to Little Grandma.  Her chair was on the left just as you walked through the door; and as soon as you walked in, she would take your hand and give you a little pat.  She didn't talk much, but was always smiling.  I had heard stories that she was a very hard working lady in her day.  She had many children, and they were all very tall.  My Grandpa was over 6 feet tall, which was unusual back then.  I would look at Little Grandma and just wonder how she managed to have all of these big children!

One of my fondest memories of Little Grandma was a day when she kept a big secret in order to keep me out of trouble.  I was 5 years old and my Mom and Dad had dropped me off at Grandma's house on a Saturday night so that they could go to a party.  I was spending the night and Mom and Dad would pick me up in the morning.  Little Grandma had a big bed; so whenever I spent the night, Little Grandma would let me sleep with her.  I loved it because she would snuggle right up to me and keep me warm.  I also got to wear one of her nighties.  They were so soft.  This particular night, Little Grandma started jiggling me to wake me up through the middle of the night.  She whispered, "Come on, get up....we have to change the sheets!"

I had peed in my pajamas and the whole bed was wet!  Once in awhile when I was little and was over tired, I would sleep so sound that I could easily wet in bet and not even know it.  I had been doing pretty good and my parents were praising me for going for a very long time without doing any bed wetting.  BUT, tonight was different!

Little Grandma and I took the sheets off the bed and we dried out the mattress.  Then she put a plastic covering over the mattress and we put new sheets and blankets on the bed.  She dressed me in one of her clean nighties and we crawled in bed and snuggled again.  She whispered in my ear, "This is our little secret."

However, I was always a very honest little girl.  My Daddy never liked it if I told a lie.  The next morning Little Grandma and I were sitting at the table eating breakfast.  My Mom and Dad walked in the door to pick me up and take me home.  My Mom said to my Grandma, "Was Jeanne a good girl?". Grandma always confirmed that I was the best behaved child.  BUT, silly me, I had to speak up and tell the truth.  I blurted out to my Mother, "Mommy, I made a mistake and peed in Little Grandma's bed!".

Both Grandma and my Mother turned to look at me and Little Grandma, the two of us sitting side by side and looking like a couple of bandits.  Little Grandma reached under the table and grabbed my leg and squeezed real hard as she said to my Mother, "No, she didn't pee in bed.  She was a very good girl.  My bed is perfectly dry."

I started to speak up again and correct her, but she squeezed my leg so hard that I couldn't say a thing! When my Mom turned her back, Little Grandma looked at me and just winked.  I knew then that she wanted me to keep this a secret.  A few minutes later my Grandma came around the table and whispered to the two of us, "I already washed the sheets, so nobody knows!"  I felt so loved by both of them that day.  Both Grandma and Little Grandma worked to keep me out of trouble.  I will never forget it.

Little Grandma died when I was still very young.  I remember that she was in the hospital for a few weeks, and then she was gone.  I don't remember going to her funeral; I think I was still too little for that.  I don't have very many memories of her; but the ones that I do have are all wonderful.

Just like me, at the time I am writing this, you have just one Great Grandparent....my father.  It really made his day when he met you for the first time.  I will talk about him soon in another blog.

Love....Nana