Great grandmom

       Great-grandmom and me (really my step-Great-grandmom, Dutch’s mother)

The final divorce between Elle and George took awhile but there were no further attempts at reconciliation. Elle would live in the same house until her own retirement decades later.  The house had two apartments, upstairs and downstairs. I grew up living in the downstairs apartment with the sounds of renters upstairs.

Around that time Elle took me to stay with my grandmother Mildred for the weekend and soon I was taken there routinely every weekend. I wish I could recall a weekend in the apartment with my mom. I sort of liked going to Gran’s house for the weekend but usually I wanted to stay home with my mother. Naturally I kept such feelings to myself. I don’t know if my mother ever knew how much I wanted to stay with her.

There were many times I went to stay with George who ended up living most of his life with his parents where his alcoholic lifestyle was accepted. Once I started school I spent a good deal of time with them since Anna was available to care for me during the day. This is where I gained so many lessons in housekeeping and business savvy. Staying with Anna did not mean I had a good deal of time with my dad George since he spent most daylight hours sleeping.

Elle’s step-father Dutch had an elderly mother who Elle brought to live with us during the weekdays so she could watch me during the day. The only Great-grandmom I ever knew stayed with us until I finished first grade. She was given one of the two bedrooms that used to be mine and I had to sleep in bed with my mother. Giving up my room was not something I welcomed and I remember Great-grandmom and I arguing over whose bedroom it was. “It’s my room” I would say. Great-grandmom would respond with “No it’s my room, it’s mine.” Back and forth we’d go like not one but two children arguing over whose room it was.

Quiet though I was I must have been mean to Great-grandmom. Every morning before I left for school in the first grade she would coax and plead with me to eat my breakfast. She was the first amongst an array of people who took on the challenge of trying to get me to eat. Anna also became a crusader and told me thousands of times to eat in both English and Russian. So often I had little appetite and did not feel like eating. It may have had something to do with the availability of sweets. Given a choice I’d take the chocolate donut instead of the hot oatmeal. I knew no better.

It was very kind of Great-grandmom to come live with us during the weekdays and take care of me. I rarely, if ever, saw my mother before leaving for school in the morning. Thankfully Great-grandmom was awake and saw me off to school that entire first year of elementary school. She was also there in the evenings when my mom was either working her night job at the Bingo hall or out on dates.

Great-grandmom gave me a gift I still have. It is a King James Bible with a white leather cover. I remember how happy she was when she gave it to me. It was the only Bible I had growing up. I don’t recall any conversations about why the Bible was important enough to be a special gift to me. Mainly I just remember vexing her poor soul over my not eating and teasing her about the bedroom we both claimed as our own.