On Saturday, March 13, our family visited with G-Mom and G-Dad on our way home from a day in NC.
All 8 of us were together for this visit which is in itself a miracle during this time in our lives.
G-Mom was weak but she was in good spirits, came outside to be with us in the her (their) beloved gazebo for a swing, talked with the children, she watched dance videos with Maddox, and just before we left, we snuck in a photo. G-Mom was so funny, asking me specifically to be sure we cropped out the blanket she was snuggled under due to a slight chill in the air. She told me, "Beth, hide that blanket, I look like a grandma with that old blanket over me!" So, I did my best and hid the blanket.
I first met G-Mom (Mrs. Drafts) in December 1995. Ryan and I hardly knew one another yet here were were just a few days before Christmas and he invited me to his extended family Christmas party. Prior to this day, I thought my family was big....then I met Ryan's family and decided if we married, our wedding would be ginormous! Anyway, I walked into his house and Mrs. Drafts was in the kitchen cooking her special holiday toffee candy while listening to Mannheim Steamroller Christmas music. From that day forward, she was almost always found in the kitchen cooking up a recipe she found in a current magazine or one of her famous specialties or veggies from the garden.
I remember that first Christmas with the Drafts was also the first time I had a piece of Mrs. Drafts Red Velvet Cake....yummy! It was a tradition, always a Red Velvet Cake at Christmas....even as the years went on, Mrs. Drafts always made us (me) our very own Red Velvet Cake each Christmas.
Some of my favorite memories of G-Mom....
She always welcomed us with open arms when we came for a visit whether we were staying a week or just a few hours, the same arms were open every time.
We had several ficus trees that we used as decor in our first homes....G-Mom was visiting us and she washed them, leaf by leaf....before this, I never even thought to wash a fake tree.
G-Mom made the best pimento cheese in town....and it was made with plain yogurt vs. mayo.
G-Mom was in denial that Colin was a Drafts until he was about six months old....she always said he didn't look like a Drafts because he had a head full of hair when he was born....and all of her babies were bald.
G-Mom arrived in Boston to meet Pryce when he was six days old....she literally walked in the door, put her stuff down, we handed her the baby and big brother, and she had them for the next 24 hours as I was placed into the hospital overnight. She talked about this over the years....how she didn't even know what to feed our little guy but she found some sample formula in our cabinet and went with it.
G-Mom had a collection of the noisiest stuffed animals ever! And of course our kiddos gravitated to them. She was always asking us to take one home.....and we always said no because we thought the noisy things needed to stay at her house.
G-Mom gave me a sewing kit as a wedding gift. It is a treasure and one that we use often.
G-Mom, Ryan and I spent a long weekend at Seabrook together. G-Mom wanted to go for a bike ride.....we rode from our Spinnaker to the gate....several miles round trip! She was in her late 60s so I was impressed with her stamina and disappointed in the lack of mine.
When the girls came home....G-mom said they would wait a few days to come visit yet every time she couldn't contain herself and they would be standing at the airport gate awaiting our arrival.
She loved us all well and we are thankful for the time and the memories we all have with G-Mom.
