Grandma Jan

     I must be feeling nostalgic. And for the record, I feel nostalgic about every other two minutes. I get it from my mother and I think it’s a beautiful way to feel. During the winter months, I really start missing my grandparents in Ohio. Ever since I can remember, aside from sporadic visits to our house when another sibling was born or a quick trip, our summers overflowed with grandparents. I’ve reminisced about Nanny’s house and PopPop’s car lot, but now I must introduce my dad’s mom.. My grandma Jan.  I snapped this photo during my visit last summer as we sat on Grandma Jan’s screened in porch drinking iced tea.

I’ve always loved her hands. She has perfectly manicured nails, neat jewelry, and a beautiful array of wedding bands and engagement rings. Her rings, her mother’s and a couple other bands my grandfather has given her over the years.

~My Grandma Jan is an artist. She paints miniatures for dollhouses and creates the most intricate, expressive dollhouses. She made me a white and navy blue one when I was about nine years old. She sent it with chairs that she hand painted floral designs on. She made my sister a nightlight in the form of an ice cream shop dollhouse. The details were amazing and I stared at it for hours, wishing I was small enough to be a part of the scene. She has a dollhouse room upstairs filled with her work. She has a work table in the living room and shelves with every imaginable paint color. When we came over, Pop-Pop would make little wooden bunnies or dolls for us and Grandma Jan would help us paint them.

~My Grandma Jan is a musician. She taught music at high schools and piano lessons out of her home. She knows how to sing and kept an accordion at her house..which provided hours of entertainment for my brothers {The accordion has since been gifted to my freakishly musically talented baby brother}

~My Grandma Jan is a tradition starter. Every year since my parents were wed, she has sent my mom a new Christmas decoration for their house. Many of them handmade. On top of that she sends a Christmas ornament to each of my brothers and sisters and I each Christmas Eve. She wants us to have a box of our own ornaments when we move out and start our own family. Just last weekend, when we finally took Christmas down, I separated out my ornaments from her and put them in a separate box for when I move out and get married in June. Beautiful, beautiful tradition. My parents made us record in detail the ornament we got each year and it was fun to try to decipher my 7 year old handwriting and try to match the description with the ornaments in our boxes.

~My Grandma Jan had a 5 blonde curly-haired babies in just under 6 years. My grandma Jan is responsible for my curls, by way of my dad, or course :)

~My Grandma Jan translated books into Braille

~My Grandma Jan married the milkman…also known as my beloved grandfather! They made a life together in Cape May Court House New Jersey and then she followed his navy career around before it brought them to stay in Columbus, Ohio. Where my parents met and fell in love

~My Grandma Jan loves antiques and has the most classic, country-cute interior design. Every table or chair or decoration seems to have a story.

~My Grandma Jan smokes Pall Mall Red 100s and I think it is one of the most wonderful smells in the world. Call me crazy. Once in a while I catch a scent of them somewhere else and it always transports me to Jan’s back porch, crossword puzzles, and rocking chairs.

~My Grandma Jan is spoiled right now..seeing as how 3 of her 14 grandbabies are going to college in Columbus. My little brother is one of those lucky grandbabies. He spends every Friday night at her house and I’m green with envy.

Yes, I am definitely pining for those summer breezes through the screens and white lattice, watching Jan do a crossword puzzle and sitting in all the cool antique chairs.  That August visit can’t come soon enough!!

Happy Birthday Grandma Jan!!! I LOVE you :)