OFF LIMITS
Wednesday, May 7, 2003
OFF LIMITS
I always made a bee line for her bed whenever I visited. Grandmother's white chenille bedspread stretched so tightly that you could bounce quarters on it. I moved my arms and legs over it; snow angel style. Then lie perfectly still, willing the bumpy spread to leave it's marks on my young skin.
"Get off the bed!" she yelled. "You'll mess it up." Rising up, my hands lingered over the bumpy fabric as I hopped down from the bed. "O-kay!" I shot back.
I later found not only was her bed off limits, but so were most things a young girl wanted to snoop through. Her hope chest, her lavender, quilted satin-covered box that held beautifully starched and pressed handkerchiefs. And Colgate powdered toothpaste in the bathroom! I really wanted to shake that stuff out of the can.
Sometimes she'd take down her jewelry box and show me her cameos, rhinestone pins, pearls, and rings, etc. I especially liked a peach and ivory cameo brooch set in gold that had been her Mother's. And her gold wedding band that was etched with flowers and engraved inside with, "WEP - HBM 5-14-21". William Erwin Pippin to Hattie Blanche Miller - May 14, 1921. I began to understand Grandmother as a real person with a real life.
I'm no longer a young girl, and Grandmother passed on ages ago. And I've found myself saying, "Get off that bed!" to both my children over the years. Items of hers previously off limits are now treasured keepsakes in my home. Including an engraved gold wedding band and one very special bumpy bedspread on my bed.
I always made a bee line for her bed whenever I visited. Grandmother's white chenille bedspread stretched so tightly that you could bounce quarters on it. I moved my arms and legs over it; snow angel style. Then lie perfectly still, willing the bumpy spread to leave it's marks on my young skin.
"Get off the bed!" she yelled. "You'll mess it up." Rising up, my hands lingered over the bumpy fabric as I hopped down from the bed. "O-kay!" I shot back.
I later found not only was her bed off limits, but so were most things a young girl wanted to snoop through. Her hope chest, her lavender, quilted satin-covered box that held beautifully starched and pressed handkerchiefs. And Colgate powdered toothpaste in the bathroom! I really wanted to shake that stuff out of the can.
Sometimes she'd take down her jewelry box and show me her cameos, rhinestone pins, pearls, and rings, etc. I especially liked a peach and ivory cameo brooch set in gold that had been her Mother's. And her gold wedding band that was etched with flowers and engraved inside with, "WEP - HBM 5-14-21". William Erwin Pippin to Hattie Blanche Miller - May 14, 1921. I began to understand Grandmother as a real person with a real life.
I'm no longer a young girl, and Grandmother passed on ages ago. And I've found myself saying, "Get off that bed!" to both my children over the years. Items of hers previously off limits are now treasured keepsakes in my home. Including an engraved gold wedding band and one very special bumpy bedspread on my bed.
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