Before the funeral, my little sister gathered probably close to 100 photos of my grandma and various members of my grandma's family from the past 96 years and mounted them all on three giant pieces of poster board to display in the church during the service. A few of the photos were actually my grandma's own copies of the picture, including one of my mom's sister's family, who live very far away and who we (and my grandma) therefore very rarely see. On the back, my aunt wrote everybody's name, in the order they're sitting, so my grandma would know which great grandchild she'd never met was which.
Given my grandma's proclivity for labeling and imposing commentary on all things around her house (tight pants, dirty towels, lima beans, etc.), it should be no surprise that the woman added her own notes alongside my aunt's. My sister noticed the comments when she took apart the collages recently, and she e-mailed them to me the other day.
Some of the comments were old lady nonsense. "Return OK"? "See the twins so grandchildren care"? I have no idea what these things mean. But "Debbie look fat?" "Mike less hair"? I'm pretty sure what she was trying to get at with those (and it makes me glad we didn't find any notated photos of our side of the family... I'm not sure my ego could handle what my grandma thought of my body or my hair).
My favorite, though? Hands down that was this one. You may recall that the only way my mom was able to explain e-mail to her mother was to say she "wrote letters to people through the TV." I don't know if my grandma ever wondered why she couldn't write letters through her TV--if she thought she just didn't have the right equipment or wasn't paying for the right channel package for that. All I know is that to her, the Internet came through the TV. Hence, when my cousin met his now-wife on the Internet and they had a child together, my grandma's understanding was that it somehow transpired through their television. Under my cousin's name on the back of that photo, then, directed at my cousin's small child, my grandma wrote the following:
"The baby that he got to enjoy from the T.V. doings."
Sweet Jesus. TV doings. Oh, to be in that woman's head for just one day. I can only imagine all the other fantastic material she had hidden in there.
14 comments:
Well, thanks, Stefanie. "The baby that he got to enjoy from the T.V. doings" will not be topped by the internet this week. I can just skip any further blog reading.
That is completely and thoroughly awesome.
Who knew TV doings could land you a baby? Your grandmother was full of wisdom, Stefanie.
I love that saying 'tv doings', 'tv doings' - hmmm, it has a ring to it. I think I'll put it in my vocabulary. Thanks, Stefanie's grandma!
"The baby that he got to enjoy from the T.V. doings"
That's great. That is just so great.
I wonder if she worried that spending too much time in front of the TV might result in a baby for HER, too. :)
If this post leaves us with one lesson, it's that we all need to be using the phrase "TV doings" a lot more.
Too many grandma stories? I'm thinking that with this grandma and these stories, there's no such thing.
At least there was no "dammit" after the enjoyable baby comment. ;)
That is awesome!
Note to self: make notes next photos in photo albums for grandchildren to get a kick out of later or post on their blog after I have passed!
Jeez... you should probably send that notation off to e.H. for their commercials.
I can just see it now. White background, beautiful young couple with a baby.
"Thanks e.H.! We got to enjoy this baby from the T.V. doings!"
Yes, the tv doings thing is great, but what about the fact that she was commenting on the fact that people looked fat and bald! Random and hilarious.
That is SO hilarious! I love it.
T.V. doings?! I LOVE IT!
I wonder what my technology challenged think of me meeting my boyfriend on The Internets?
Hee! I love your grandma.
I love that story. As well as the phrase "T.V. doings." :)
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