my bolivar grandma

i didn't get the pleasure of having grandparents around for a lot of my life. my grandpa harry [who was quite a hoot] was my last living grandparent, and he passed away when i was eight. needless to say, by the time i went to college, i had been in a grandparent drought for quite some time.

when i arrived at sbu i heard about an organization with an adopt-a-grandparent program. and since i was in the market for one or two of those, i signed right up. the actual process of pairing up with someone was kind of sketchy. basically i was given an index card with the name and phone number of an oblivious senior citizen in town. i would then call and ask the unsuspecting person(s) if it would be alright if i came to their home for an hour a week to visit. calling strangers and inviting ourselves over...that's how we roll in small towns in the midwest. the first woman i called was a widow. she, understandably, was not interested in having an unknown person in her home. so onto the next index card i went, where i discovered some delightful new friends.

lee and pauline must have decided i did not sound like a robber or an axe murderer and said to come on over. we started with weekly one hour visits, but that didn't last long. soon we were playing hand and foot all afternoon and even taking off on a few adventures.

since i left bolivar we've kept in touch and i visited often. lee passed away in 2005 and a few years later pauline moved to louisville to be near her daughter. we haven't been able to see each other since the move so when my mom and i were planning our road trip to canada i lobbied for a detour. pauline had a plate of cookies waiting for me, like any good grandma would, and we spent an afternoon playing games and chatting...just like old times.