I know that Grandma S, the daughter of Polish immigrants, did not have nice kitchen curtains in her home when she was a child. She told me this in order to explain why she had so very many sets of kitchen curtains which she changed with the season. She made all the curtains herself. My favorites had pretty machine appliqued flowers on them. I am sure that they were her own design.
I know that my grandmother married at 18, and that my grandfather was a coal miner. They raised five children (my father was their oldest) during the Great Depression. I know that there was one winter during the hardest of those years when Grandma S went without a winter coat (her only coat was given to a sister). She told me this in order to explain why she had a whole closet full of winter coats that she made herself.
The night that my grandmother died (after a long hospitalized coma) I was 23 and living alone in a new apartment. I could not sleep. In the middle of the night I made curtains for my kitchen window from some white eyelet fabric that she had given me. It was the kind of crazy thing that I do to stay sane.
Grandma S did not really have to explain why she had so many kitchen curtains and winter coats, but I am glad that she did. I know where my 'crazy' comes from and that it is not all bad.
I also know that Grandma S was proud of me.
What a wonderful story. I don't remember my grandmother sharing any stories. In fact, although I saw my grandmother many times growing up, I am not sure we connected in the same way you did.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.