So, why all the reminiscing?

Just thinking about my Grandma Shipp.
It's her birthday. If she were alive, today she would be 105 years old.
Even when I was a little girl I knew my Grandma wouldn't live on this earth forever. But when you are a little girl, the future seems so very far away and things like this aren't something we need to think about right now. Well, then was then; and now is now, with all the memories.

Grandma was always so careful when she brushed my long hair. I would put up a fuss and she would say I had a sensitive head, so she very kindly put my hair in braids. ...Braids minimized tangles.
On very rare occasions, she let me brush her hair. I would sit on the top of the couch with my back against the wall so that I could start at the top of her head and her instructions were that I must not lift the brush until I brought it all the way down to the ends of her hair. This also minimized tangles.
Sometimes we would sit down with the great big book of nursery rhymes. She and I and sometimes Richard would read together and by the time I wasn't so young anymore I knew them well.
I had a couple of favorite books. One was "Little Black Sambo", a Little Golden Book about a small boy who was approached one at a time, by three tigers and with each one, he bargained his way out of being eaten by offering them a piece of his clothing. Later, the tigers meet up with each other in the jungle and because of their covetous desire to have the others' items, they chase each other around a tree, each holding onto the tail of the tiger in front of him. With Little Black Sambo watching, they run so fast around that tree that they seem to simply become a yellow streak, and then the streak becomes a circle of melted butter. Little Black Sambo gets all of his clothes back, and the moral of this story is, of course, not to be selfish or covetous.
The other book I loved for her to read was "Blueberries For Sal". I could very much relate to this one because it was all about going berry picking with your mother on the side of a hill. - On the other side a mother bear has also taken her child to the hill to pick berries. I was delighted by it!
I have been able to purchase "Blueberries For Sal". It is still read in homes and schools all over the country but "Little Black Sambo" is "politically incorrect". Even though there is no insult to African Americans in there anywhere, "Little Black Sambo" is no longer in print. I have searched on e-bay for a good used copy of the Little Golden Book off and on for years but the price always soars so high that it is this side of ridiculous, so I let it go.
Grandma was, well, our grandma. She was kind and loving. For her and Grandpa to take us in, and, with our Dad, provide for us and care for us and love us was a blessing most children don't get to have. Being able to know my Grandmother on the same level as a mother, with the added patience and understanding that comes with life's experiences, was full of lessons I would need to carry me through the rest of my life. She afforded me a foundation of love for which I will ever be thankful.

Happy Birthday, Grandma :)