Gifts received and remembered

Here it is a picture of the La Luz scarf wrapped around my grandmother on her 101st birthday. I think it looks great, but my grandmother's beauty clearly outshines the scarf. She is also resting on one of the zillion afghans she crocheted.

She is the grandmother who taught me to knit (and cook as well). Here is a picture of three-year-old me wearing a dress she crocheted (I had blond hair when I was little!). Isn't it gorgeous? I had a matching coat!

BL and Amy, if you look down at my little feet, there are the corrective shoes my grandfather made me (he was a shoemaker) and that my mother made me wear. Near verbatim conversation with mother in question:

Me: "Ma, so about those corrective shoes your dad made me. Did I walk funny? What made you decide that I needed them?"

Her: "Diana, don't start with me."

Me: "What do you mean 'don't start with me'?"

Her: "Well, you were going to need them anyway. It was a preventative measure."

Me: "Are you kidding me? I didn't need them??!!?? What the hell??!!??"

Her: "Diana, don't start with me."

Although I look cute and blond in that picture, in a few short years I was the girl with asthma, a lisp, food allergies, crooked teeth, thick glasses, and eczema. Good thing those corrective shoes kept me from walking funny as well. Yeah, Ma, they helped. Thanks.

PS. She also made me walk with books on my head. I love her anyway.

Comments

[grumperina]

Your grandma looks so cute in her scarf! I think she likes it :). And you don't walk one bit funny now - must be the corrective shoes you had to wear as a kid ;).

[Karma]

Beautiful grandma! Beautiful scarf!

I was just about to say how cute your little red shoes were. I wouldn't have guessed that they were custom made preventative corrective shoes!! :) Sweet photo.

[Jennifer]

Yay grandma! You were very cute and that's such a sweet dress. I think I'm understanding your obsession with shoes now. :)

[Colleen]

"Don't start with me" is one of my mother's favorite lines when she's weasling.

The scarf: a beaut. Your grandmother is 101?!? I don't believe it.

[Purly Whites]

Your grandmother is adorable!

I had a lisp too. It was awful. My first name starts with an "s" so I couldn't even say my own name properly. But my only other downfall was crooked teeth and those two were bad enough, so I feel for you.

[Betsy]

Okay, I think the corrective shoes are adorable! They are RED! The dress is adorable, Grandma is adorable in her scarf, her afghan is adorable! I can't stand it. I love hearing about your family, I don't think I've ever met a shoemaker's granddaughter before!

[June]

Mom did all right by you - see how lovely you've turned out!

[Maggi]

Grandma does not look a day over 80. The scarf is gorgeous. You were such a cute little blondie!!! All corrective-ness in the shoes is canceled out by the red. Just like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.

My scarf has been torn out again. I need corrective needles.

[Sarah]

Hey, I wore red corrective shoes, too. I hated them, I slipped all over the floor at school. What WAS the point of all that?

That was a funny flashback, thanks.

[Denise]

Wow, your grandma is 101.

My grandma passed away six years ago, a month before she turned 89. She taught to crochet, cook, garden and so many other things. I miss her so much.

Give your grandma and extra hug and kiss when you see her. Just because.

[Teresa]

I wish I had to someone to call GRAND MA.

[Martha Marin]

OK. Here I am poking around in the past, and I stumble upon this. Well, my girl, when i was little I had to wear these incredibly horrid brown shoes with METAL BARS CONNECTING THEM. The theory was that these awful shoes with the METAL BARS CONNECTING THEM would keep my hips aligned. The moral of the story is that though this did nothing for my hips, there is nothing really wrong with my hips after all, and I was just the little girl with ugly shoes and horrible METAL BARS CONNECTING THEM.
Crappy, sister, but I dig.