My nanny took care of me since the day I was born. She took care of everyone she loved because that’s just how she is. Her family and friends were most important to her and I think she was happiest on weekends and holidays when her house was filled with people that she loved and people that loved her. Nobody that knew my grandma didn’t love her. She just had this warmth about her, and a contagious smile. Not to mention she gave the BEST bear hugs!!
My best memories took place at my nanny and pop pop’s house. I probably spent 2/3 of my time there when I was growing up. Nan always had fun things planned for us to do. We would go swimming all the time. We swam in the backyard pool until we couldn’t swim in it anymore….literally. We wore so many holes into it that while Nanny and Pop Pop were in Ft.Pierce, we had to call them and tell them their pool was draining to the ground. I don’t think they realized it wasn’t a joke until they got home and saw an empty metal frame. My brother and I would do all sorts of things with Nan. She took us to the movies, to the arcade, shopping, we would read outside when the weather was really nice, or do puzzles. My favorite memories were always Christmas Eve at the house. I can close my eyes and picture Nanny walking down the hall with my garbage bag full of presents. Granted, half of the bag was socks and underwear (nanny’s favorite gift), but the other half was full of all the things on my list. In 3rd grade I just had to have the new Karaoke machine. It was the biggest gift I had ever asked for so I didn’t think I was going to get it. On Christmas morning I was playing with all of my toys that I got on Christmas Eve and Pop Pop asked if I could go grab a present from the back room. When I brought it out he asked me if I could open it for him; sure enough it was the karaoke machine!!
Nanny had pulled through again :)
I was also obsessed with Barney when I was younger… so Nanny got me all the best Barney LIVE tapes, and she was the only one willing to suffer through the pain and watch them with me. Anything that I took a liking to, she supported. Whether it was soccer, dance, drawing, singing, piano…anything. When I started playing basketball, she was at almost every one of my games. Sometimes when we were bored, Mark and I would put on concerts. I would sing and he would play the piano. Nanny always supported us and told us we were so wonderful…it wasn’t until I was older that I realized I was tone deaf, Mark was no Beethoven prodigy, and Nan was just being a good grandma. Although I thought I was always a sweet little angel, Nan did get mad at me sometimes. I can hear her yelling at me that if I didn’t quit talking back I was going to find myself in the “dog house” in the backyard. It wasn’t a literal doghouse…it’s just one of those things she’s been saying for years to freak us out. Just like “your hairy toe is crossing the line”. Or the nicknames she made up for my brat alter ego “Lady Jane” and “Susie Q”. Whenever I was acting like a brat she’d always say “Susie Q you’re hairy toe is crossing over the line” and I would get so angry. Now it’s just something I’ll miss hearing.
If you knew my grandma, you knew that she was quite possibly the best cook around. Kids at school would always say that their grandma’s made the best this or the best that…I would just laugh to myself because they never got to experience what a Mary Hughes meal was like. MY GRANDMA MADE THE BEST EVERYTHING. Although the food was incredible, the best part of dinner was probably the nap afterwards. Like a ritual, as soon as I finished eating I would plop my head down onto Nanny’s lap because I was the lucky one who got to sit next to her. She would rub my back or my face while I would nap on her lap and those are the type of memories that will last me forever.
Nan was so strong to all of us that I guess I just expected her to live forever. But now that she’s gone I have realized that my goal in life is to make an impact on someone else’s life just like she made such an impact on mine. And what make
