I am so glad my grandma got to watch us all of the time. Since grandpa passed away when I was finishing kindergarten it gave grandma something to do. We loved going to grandma's house. She had all sorts of really neat, old toys that belonged to my mom, my aunt and my uncles, a bar that we essentially made into a play area, and lots and lots of board games. During the summer months when mom and dad worked, grandma would take us to different parks around town, we'd feed the ducks, we'd go to the Children's Museum, and we'd have lunch at places like McDonald's or Taco Bell. Grandma really liked Taco Bell, still does.
There was always food at grandma's too. Sugary cereals for the mornings after we had spent the night, Oreo cookies, Lays potato chips, candy in glass dishes on the counter, usually peanut butter M&Ms. I remember Lays potato chips being one of the things I craved when at grandma's. She always had them. Always. There was never a time that a bag of Lay's was not sitting on top of her fridge. To this day she still buys them, only the low sodium kind. Lunches consisted of Campbell's chicken noodle soup with extra noodles added, ramen, sandwiches with potato chips, good comfort foods. A favorite meal of mine growing up was mom or grandma's homemade chicken and noodles. They would make the noodles from scratch and it was one of the best meals I ever had. Throw a heaping scoop of that over homemade mashed potatoes and I was in heaven.
Summertime at grandma's also usually meant we would get to see our cousins. I have a big family on both sides. On mom's side I'm one of thirteen grand kids. On dad's side I believe I'm one of seventeen. My aunt Mary and uncle David had 5 kids. They were the ones we were closest too. I considered my cousin Danielle one of my best friends. She is only one year older than me. Then there was Nate who was Andy's age. The four of us were a team that played together constantly. I still see Danielle as one of my closest friends and as we have gotten older Sarah isn't nearly the brat she once was. (Love you, Sarah!)
There was swimming in the wonderful above ground pool that really did fit well in Grandma's backyard. After swimming there would be ice cream cones, trips to Chuck E Cheese's, pizza, cookies, cake, snacks... (lots of spring/summer birthdays in my family). I just remember my childhood being full of fun, family, and food.
I love my grandmother more that I can put into words. I have had and still have a close relationship with her and my cousins love to say that I'm her favorite. I don't know about all that, I just know I spent oodles of time with her growing up and still see her a couple times a week. When she lived in Davenport I would also go visit her on weekends and drag Andrew along with me. She taught me how to crochet, knit, and do needlepoint. She would have us help her in the garden, we mowed her grass for a little money, I once painted that woman's garage in the middle of summer for $50. I was rich!
I say all of that to prompt this memory because even though this story still hurts me to this day, I still love my grandmother and if you ask her, she does NOT remember doing this.
There was one day at her house that she asked me to get on her scale to see how much I weighed. I was probably 8 or 9 years old. After she saw the weight she said "Goodness, I weigh less than you." and that was the end of that. My poor little heart sank after that. I already knew I was bigger than all of my friends and my cousins but that really made it sink in. I weighed more than my grandmother. An adult woman.
Thus began the binge eating in secret.
