Some days, I just start thinking of people who have passed. I remember once, when I was working at my first job in College as a housekeeper, I had this overwhelming feeling that my Granddad was right there next to me, and all these memories came flooding back. last October, it was my cousin Kerry Pfister Bacchi. Today, it is my Grandma Herr. I was brewing some Tea (to make my passion iced tea lemonade) and I started remembering Grandma's Sun Tea. Every time Grandma and Grandpa would come to visit us in Ridgecrest, Grandma would brew her Sun Tea. I'm pretty sure I saw her do it a couple times when we would visit her in Live Oak as well. I can still see that plastic gallon size container. The first time, I couldn't understand what it was. The sun made the tea? I was probably only about 10 or so. Do people make sun tea any more? I wonder.
I am filled with a wide variety of memories. My Grandma used to write to me, when I was in High School and College (mostly college). I remember feeling the first real acceptance from Grandma in College... I had decided as a first year college student to go ahead and go to church (at the time, I'm still not sure if I did it because I wanted to, or felt pressure to.... it doesn't matter at this point). It was a Presbyterian church, and I liked the minister. He reminded me of my minister at home. I joined the choir temporarily... we dressed up in robes and such. I always say my Aunt's church do this, but we Methodists didn't have choir robes. Anyways, I recall writing to Grandma and telling her about church. I vividly remember telling her that I wasn't going to a Baptist church (my grandma was Baptist, and in fact I found out later her family was one of the founding/sponsoring families for the Live Oak 1st Baptist church...). I remember her reply back -- "It doesn't matter that you aren't going to a Baptist church. It's just good you are going to church." WOW, that was a powerful reply for me. I of course went on after that to have a period of skepticism and soul searching for about 7 years, but that reply still sticks with me. I just always had this feeling, and I can't say where from... I truly don't know, that she had this idea that if I didn't believe as she did, it was bad.
I remember one Christmas, Grandma and Grandpa came to spend it with us in Ridgecrest. Now, Christmas is still pretty cold in Ridgecrest, for those of you who don't know, but it's almost always sunny (maybe one year we had a "white" Christmas because it snowed on Christmas Eve, and it was still around for Christmas day, but had melted by the end of it). Our house has many windows - my dad designed it that way... passive solar. This means that even in the cold desert winter, it is warm in our house, at least on the south side where the windows are. Well, one day, Grandma was sitting in the rocking chair, on the sunny side of the house, looking outside. She was just looking at staring out at a particular spot for what seemed to be hours, I'm really not sure how long it was. Then at one point one of us... this was so long ago, I don't know who it originally was, but I want to say it was my dad, could have been my mom, anyways, one of us asked her what she was looking at. "Oh, I'm just watching the cat there. She's been in that spot a long time." -- Grandma, that's not the cat, that's a rock! I don't think we ever let her live that one down.
Yes there are more memories that keep flooding back. Pancake breakfast every morning that Grandma and Grandpa came to visit. Why is it that her pancakes tasted so good... when it was the same darned mix that my mom used... was it just the fact that it was always special to have pancakes and little smokes in their trailer every time they came to visit? I remember how she always used to say "I was just about to say" in her best Oklahoma drawl. I remember her curlers, her "mu-mu" night gown and her green hair next to her ears where her glasses sad and the copper rubbed. I remember asking her to play barbies with me, and though she could never sit on the ground with me and play, I do have memories of her playing with me... it was typically me giving her a barbie and some clothes to dress her in.
Ok, that is my ode to my Grandma today, as it seems her presence is with me, for what reason, I do not know why... perhaps it was simply to tell the cyber world about my sporadic memories of her.
