Eggs, Over Easy

Growing up both of my parents usually worked into the evening, so I spent a lot of time at my grandmother’s house – I loved being at Nana’s house. When I was younger it was just me, my older cousin Chris and Nana, and we did everything together! Church, Bible study, and choir rehearsal; we even took church pictures together (back in the day they used to do that! lol). Once my older cousin became more independent, it became me, Nana, and Chris’ little sister BJ. I would find comfort in it being us three because we were closer in age and plus she was a girl! We played together, had some of the same friends and always found something to get into over Nana’s house.

Enter the weekend… There are certain sounds and smells that remind me of Saturdays as a child. Good ole Saturday morning cartoons with the Smurfs, Gummi Bears and He-Man (am I aging myself yet??), the faint sound of gospel music playing from the radio and waking up to the amazing smell of sizzling bacon! It didn’t get any better! Nana was always scurrying about in the kitchen preparing what we thought to be a King’s Feast – bacon, over easy eggs, toast with jelly, chocolate milk, orange juice and don’t forget the half of pink grapefruit she insisted we eat! It was a ritual my little cousin and I were accustomed to. It just wasn’t Saturday morning at Nana’s without it!

After our hearty Saturday breakfast, we were off to run the errands of the day. There was never a dull weekend! They usually included meeting up with a friend or two of Nana’s, hitting up the KFC drive thru – extra crispy chicken for us & chicken gizzards for Nana, and some form of thrift shopping. And boy did she take us places! If there was a thrift store within 25 miles, we were there. Most of the time, more than one in a day! BJ and I loved it though. While Nana was looking for trinkets to fill her already full house, we got to go and play in the toy section since they weren’t brand new and in a box. It was heaven! We knew all the local thrift stores like the back of our hand. The Goodwill had a 3rd floor full of toys and usually a pair of old skates we zoomed back and forth in. The St. Vincent DePaul had a back room full of books we liked to choose from. These were the things Saturday were made for! Our breakfast and then thrifting with the Nana and her Golden Girls were things legends were made of!

As I grew older though, Nana became more than an awesome bacon and over easy eggs breakfast with thrifting each weekend. When I went away to college, she was always there for me. When I had to move back in my parents house after college, she was right there. Once I moved out on my own, she would keep me abreast as to what was going on back at home. Even what my parents would say about me that I didn’t know! She had become a confidant and I hadn’t even realized it.

We found out she had dementia early on and because of this, she could no longer live on her own. She moved into my parents’ house so that they could keep an eye on her. Her life became different because she could no longer take care of herself. As a family, we decided we didn’t want her to just to sit at home and wither away; we wanted her to be active and have something to do during the day when all of us were at work. We went to check out a place called The Vintage, Inc. It was a senior daycare for lack of better words. They did arts and crafts and they took the residents on field trips to local restaurants and shops, allowing them to interact with others like themselves. We thought it would be a great fit for where Nana was in life and what we as a family desired for her. Of course, when they showed her around the first time and told her all that she would be doing there, she said that she didn’t want to go. But once she went and started to make friends with other participants and the staff, she couldn’t wait to go to “The Village” or “work” as she called it. We couldn’t separate her from her new life!

We found out she had cancer July of 2007. Her eyes were really yellow, and she was kinda lethargic. I don’t know the whole process that my parents went through to get her to the hospital, but I can remember going to see her once she was admitted. My mom took me and my younger cousin into the hallway to explain what was going on. She told us to hold ourselves together as much as possible because Nana didn’t know what was going on and she didn’t know what she had. At the time I was 29 and had never lost anyone close to me before. What was I supposed to do? Walk back in this room like we were just here for a routine checkup??? How do you do that surrounding someone you love so much?? I had no idea how to handle this news especially surrounding someone I loved so much!

Nana died September 17,2007. This year marks the 11th year she has been gone and it still feels surreal. I can still hear her laugh and see her tending to her yard. I can still hear her words of wisdom she often spoke behind closed doors even though I at the time “never had time to talk”. Anytime I smell bacon and hear old school gospel I think of her, when I pass a KFC I still see her chewing away at the chicken gizzards my cousin and I thought were gross. Her legacy lives on through us – her grandchildren, and today – February 4th, which would have been her 94th birthday, what better way to honor her than to have breakfast with my eggs over easy.

Yours fondly,