my grandmother's journal

the woman i was named after died when i was about 12. i have only vague memories of her. i remember visiting her in florida. i remember thinking that that is where everybodys grandparents went when they got old.

i remember her favorite color was yellow. everything in her house was yellow. and i remember she had 2 best friends. one of them lived in a condo where everything was blue because that was her favorite color. the other one liked pink so everything in her condo was pink. i remember thinking that is what you are supposed to do when you get old- decorate your condo in florida according to your favorite color.

i also remember her telling me to chew my food up real good everytime i was eating around her, i guess she said it to instill non-choking skills in me. whenever we would come to visit i would see all of my drawings on her refrigerator. years and years worth- she never threw them away.

so last weekend my mother tells that my nana kept 2 journals. one written about the dark times and one about the good times. she started them when she was in the hospital after having heart surgery. it has been nearly 15 years and my mom tells me about these journals. so i read them and felt.... i don't know i guess kinda emotional? i copied some excepts from them down. here is a little:

As I was growing up I started roller skaiting and ice skating and used to race the boys on the ice pond and I used to ride my bike out on Jericho turnpike before it was paved. All the roads were dirt and when it rained it was all mud.
Growing up I liked to dance and I would only date boys that were good dancers and I went to Catillians and many wonderful places to dance, like the Aster hotel and saw Frank Sinatra when he was young and skinny.

My sister was 10 years younger and real cute always wanted me to take her shopping for clothes and things and one night she wanted to go roller skating and there was a place called Pavillion Royal in Valley Stream that had changed to a roller rink with a beautiful big organ and we started to skate to the music and I saw this handsome man and he tripped me (I think) and he picked me up and I felt a thrill from my head to my toes and I knew he was the one for me (Joe C, Oct 4, 1938). I was going with an other fellow who was a teller in the fire Dept (Gerry Haggarty) and they both gave me bracelets for Xmas, one was silver that was Joe's and the other was gold. They both wanted to take me out New Years but I took Joe C after and dropped the other one and we went together for four years.
When we met, Joe's father had a stroke and couldn't work so we had to wait, finally we planned our Wedding for Nov 26, 1942, it was a small one, not being Catholic we could not get married in church so we had the marriage in the Priest's Room and the reception with only the family in a lovely Restaraunt, it was Thanksgiving Day so of course we had turkey and my Uncle Frank played the Piano.