The Nanas.Tom's grandma Nana Ora is somewhere in her late nineties. I honestly can't remember how old she is. She is currently staying with Tom's parents. Every once in a while I get the chance to go sit with Nana Ora for part of the day. These experiences are an amazing blessing. The past two times I have spent the day with Nana I have been able to interview her about her life. I am doing this at the request of Tom's Mom. The first time I recorded 2 1/2 hours of Nana talking and her first comment to me was "I don't know how much I will remember." This woman is still pretty sharp. Her memories are still vivid and there is not a trace of dementia or alzheimers, unlike her husband who had both before he died. Although Papa Joe had an amazing memory he forgot much at the end. Nana told me the other day that he would sometimes say to her. "I am sorry my wife is not here. She should be back soon. I don't know what is taking her so long." What an amazing blessing to have Nana here with us and so completely lucid. My children adore her and I have learned so much from her. This past interview session was especially illuminating. At one point she completely opened up about her relationship with her mother, her father and one of her daughters. It explained a lot about Nana Ora and some of the things I have heard over the years from Tom's family.
Some of this interview was absolutely heart wrenching. But I am so grateful I shared these moments with her. I can't wait until we are finished interviewing her and I can get all this written down and recorded for Tom's family. I say we because Isaac is going to do some of the interviews for his Genealogy merit badge. My children actually enjoy listening to Nana Ora's stories. Of course they ask her crazy things like "Do you have any ghost stories?" Which she did by the way. I hate ghost stories. Whose children are these? They can't be mine. There is so much I want to share with Tom's family but honestly some of the more intimate stories need to be shared in person or on paper with them. I will share this little random and funny tidbit that actually became an instant bonding moment for Lia and Nana.
A Pickle of a Story
"Every month we would get a nickle to go buy something at the grocery store. (Nana got very few treats at home as a child) I always bought a big dill pickle and my brother always bought an ice cream." This fact just tickled me because how funny is it that her favorite treat was a dill pickle? What is even more wierd is that Lia has an absolute addiction to dill pickles. Almost every single day she asks for a pickle for lunch. I grow pickling cucumbers and pickle them just to keep that girl happily supplied with pickles. I told Lia, who was with me that day, that Nana loved dill pickles too. Then they just sat there and talked about pickles and Nana explained in vivid detail how she would go pick out her pickle at the store. Today Tom and I went out to lunch with Tom's parents and Nana. We were all ordering at the register while Nana Ora and Lia sat at the table. Tom looked back and said. "Look at them over there just talking." I told him they were best friends now because they had bonded over pickles. What a silly little story that somehow bonded generations together.
There are so many interesting things I have discovered from Nana. Nana was an expert piano player and actually was playing for her elementary school band by the time she was in third grade. She was teaching piano to other kids by the time she was in middle school. However, she had a hard time memorizing piano pieces. On the other hand, her brother was able to hear a song and play it. Once he played the song he had it memorized. My husband and my son can both pick out a song on the piano after they have heard it a couple times. It is plain wierd. Apparently there are other grandsons of Nana Ora that have this same gift. How interesting to see these family traits randomly passed on. What a revelation interviewing Nana Ora has been. The funny part is once she starts talking she just keeps on going. I am usually exhausted before she is.
I only ever had one grandparent that I knew growing up. All my other grandparents died when my parents were still kids. I was able to interview her a couple times before she died of heart disease. I wish I was able to interview her more. I know she had more to tell me, more recipes to share, more stories to pass on. I implore you to interview your grandparents, your older aunts and uncles. You too will understand the blessing of sitting with a "Nana Ora."
