At the end of August, my Aunt Cecelia has a birthday party for my Granny Hilda. Granny is my mother’s mother and she turned 90 in September. My Granny is something else. She’s not had an easy life, but she’s certainly had an interesting life.
She was born in Red Level, Alabama, which is not much bigger than a sheet of paper. She was named Hilda Herberta Jones. (Her father’s name was Herbert Hilrey and he named her after himself!) Not exactly a name to love is it??? When I was younger, I asked her if I could call her Hilda. She said “Sure” so then I asked about Herberta. She said “Ummm, NO!!” She had one older sister, my Aunt Julia and a TON of half-siblings. Until this year, she had gone to a class reunion every year, since the 30th year. She’s been widowed, and then widowed again. She gave birth to five children and has had to attend the funerals of two of them. I think when she lost my Uncle George, who was her baby, and then my mom just 11 months later, it changed her. I didn’t know if she was going to recover.
She’s a trip! She gave me one of her wedding ring sets and it is absolutely gorgeous. When she gave it to me, she kind of tossed the box at me and said, “It doesn’t look like you’re ever going to get any of your own, so here!” At her party when I went over to hug her, she said, “Well, I see you haven’t lost any weight!” She says whatever she thinks, whenever she wants. I guess when you’re 90, you kind of have that right.
She still lives alone. She lives next door to my aunt, but she lives all by herself. She worked hard, and during a time when most women didn’t work outside the home at all. She started smoking when she was 14 and about 10 years ago, she just quit. She decided she didn’t want to anymore and she quit – just like that! She has the most self-control I’ve ever seen! She likes Almond M&M’s and used to buy a bag and eat three a day until they were gone. Can you imagine – three a day?? Unbelievable!
She has always been a little nervous! She used to know every car in her neighborhood, and knew exactly when people were supposed to be home. For a birthday gift one time, we got her a cap pistol and binoculars so she could shoot to scare off the dogs that would poo-poo in her yard and peek at her neighbors better! It made me sad to see how slow she’s moving these days. She’s slowed down a lot. She always seemed younger than she was and all of a sudden, her age has caught up with her. I realize how lucky we were to get to celebrate her 90th birthday with her.