One of my favorite childhood memories is spending time at my Grandma Tina’s house. Her house stood on one of the busiest streets in the city located in Homewood. All of my mom’s family would gather at her house for every holiday, birthdays, or just to give the kids a place to play. My grandma had 8 children and well above 18 grandchild and great grandchildren.
My grandmom was not a warm person. She was good- but not warm. Actually, my grandma was pretty cut throat. She was the kind of women that would pray for you at church if she liked you enough, which meant a lot to people because receiving a prayer from her felt like getting a blessing or a curse directly from god. My time with my grandma was a blessing for me. I got to spend an extraordinary time with her that shaped a lot of my childhood. In the early mornings, my parents would drive me to her house so that she could walk me to school.
My grandma was from the south, and taught me entering the home without an offer of some sort was considered disrespectful, so knew I couldn’t go empty handed. “What do you want to bring her today?” my parents would ask me every morning and I would pick either a ‘Hunnybun’ or ‘sweet rolls’- the ones that were like little cinnamon rolls. She always needed something sweet to go with her coffee: black, bitter, no sugar, no milk, and I was always happy to bring her sweet bread with a lot cinnamon in the form of a classical southern delicacy.
I like to believe that I was her favorite granddaughter. She’d probably agree because I got on her nerves the least, which is a huge family debate by the way.
If I could talk to anyone from my past, it would be my grandmother. I really miss her a lot.