OUT: e-mail, IN: Grandma mail

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This time last year, crafty grandmas were posting photos and directions for the festive little Valentine's Day mailboxes they'd created for their grandchildren. The marvy mailboxes posted by Nina and Kathy were exactly what I needed for Bubby -- a Grandma Mail box for all the goodies to come from his long-distance grandma year-round, not just for Valentine's Day.

But I was late to the crafty grandma game. I searched high and low for the little white tin boxes. At Michaels, Joann's, Hobby Lobby, and the dollar bin at Target (where others mentioned finding theirs). No little white boxes anywhere.

So I purchased one of the sturdy formed-paper ones from Hobby Lobby, along with cute stickers of things of interest to Bubby, and I made my own Grandma Mail box just for Bubby. It turned out cute -- despite it feeling a teensy bit to me like the Grandma Mail box version of Eddie Murphy's 'house burgers'. One good thing about my version was that it was larger than the little white boxes the on-top-of-things grandmas had used, which would be ideal for the larger envelopes and small packages I planned to send to Megan to pass along to Bubby, lifting the little red flag to announce mail from Gramma had arrived.

Bubby, though, found the larger size perfect for packing the thing full with his cars and trucks and carrying it around the house. And because he loved doing so so much, Megan let him. And the Grandma Mail box -- being made of "sturdy" paper -- turned out not to be so sturdy after all. So much for that.

Well, it just so happened I was in Target the other day and -- glory be! -- the dollar bins beckoned, as they were filled to the brim with the little white tin boxes with red plastic flags, red ones, too. I wouldn't miss out this year! Halleluiah!

I brought it home, adorned it for Bubby, and this, friends and fellow grandmas, was included in the Grandma Bag I toted to the desert with me this week: 

It's adorned inside and out with stickers of things near and dear to Bubby's heart: trucks and emergency vehicles! There's his name on the other side, "Love, Gramma" on the bottom, and the little red flag to announce when mail has arrived from Gramma (placed there by Megan, of course; when the mail is too large, Bubby will find a "Notification of Package" form directing him to see Mommy to pick up the real thing).

This year I was prepared. I thought ahead. And when I say I thought ahead, I mean I really thought ahead: I wanted Birdy to have a Grandma Mail box, too, so I bought one for him, to be decorated later.

But I didn't stop there. Determined to not be caught without a box again, I bought several -- so each and every one of my grandkids to come will have a Grandma Mail box:

Eight should be enough. Megan and Preston plan to have three or four kids and the rest should cover Brianna and Andrea's kiddos. Forget that Brianna is nowhere near ready to have children yet and that Andrea swears she never will have children. Ya just never know.

As a former Girl Scout leader, the motto I once drilled into the heads of my little Daisies and Brownies has now become my Grandma Motto: Be Prepared!

I'm pretty sure I am prepared now. At least when it comes to Grandma Mail boxes!

Today's question:

What's the best thing you recently received in the mail -- USPS mail, not e-mail?

Freeze frame

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Today I head to the desert for a five-day visit with Bubby. To him, though, it will likely feel more like a five-day photo shoot -- Gramma takes lots of pictures! By the end of a few days together with Bubby, I usually have 500 or more photos. Enough to get me through until the next time we meet. Enough to last as blog graphics for a few months. Enough to mark our time together.

I'm big on photos. I see them as a record of one's own personal history. When memories of a time, an event, a life fade, the photos are there to remind.

As I get older, I realize my memories are fading fast, yet I hold few photos of my childhood to remind me. In fact, the following photos are the only photos I have of my life before the age of 10. (I have just as few of the years after age 10 -- until I got my own camera at 16 -- but I'll refrain from sharing those as my teeth became more crooked and the hairstyles more funky. Definitely not cute shots, not worth sharing.)

Sibling No. 1, Sibling No. 2, and me, Sibling No. 3.  Sibling No. 4 and me. Siblings Nos. 1-4 and a dog whose name I can't recall. Me, beautiful Bonnie, and Sibling No. 4.

Siblings Nos. 1, 3 (me) and 4 on Dad's parade float for his business. Siblings Nos. 5 & 6 (twins) and me (maybe me?).

The crooked teeth and funky hairstyles begin. Siblings Nos. 2 and 3 on one snowmobile, me with Dad on the other.

The gang of seven (siblings). Paternal grandparents and all seven of us.

Most of us in Florida. I'm second. (Minnesotans not used to sun!) Again, in Florida.

And that's it -- my only photographic reminders of early childhood. The lack of photos in my possession is not because they're in a trunk of my mom's or a stash at my dad's. Nope, that's it.

That won't be the case with my kids, my grandkids, maybe even my great-grandkids. Like I said, I take lots of pictures. I'm certain that one day they'll be thankful for all the flashing and clicking from Gramma.

And I can pretty much guarantee that despite the photos not being all that skillfully taken or perfectly composed, they will all be cute, they will all be worth sharing.

Even if their teeth are crooked and their haircuts funky.

Today's question:

What is your favorite photo of you as a child?

Renaissance grandma

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This week's Grilled Grandma, Deanna, does it all. She writes. She's a photographer. She does all the grandma things grandmas do. And she does them all well.

Yep, a true Renaissance grandma, if you ask me. But that's not what stands out the most to me about Deanna. There's something about each grandma I grill that touches my heart, and although Deanna writes (which I like to do) and takes photos (which I wish I could do better), it's not our commonalities that most moved me when reading Deanna's responses to my Grilled Grandma questions. It was this:

Other than the initial elation, what was your first concern upon hearing you would be a grandmother? The day my grandmother died was the same day I found out I was going to become a Grandmother myself … I cried with sadness one moment and then tears of excitement the next moment … Bitter/sweet.

Truly bittersweet. I can (thankfully) only imagine.

Please read Grilled Grandma: Deanna. Then head on over to check out the precious children's book she's written for her granddaughter, for which links are included at the bottom of her grilling.

Today's (unrelated) question:

Of all the outfits you currently own, describe the one that makes you feel like your best "you".

Is that your final question?

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The other day, Jim and I were discussing what happens after death, most importantly, what we'll learn upon passing through the pearly gates and gaining truth and knowledge about anything and everything. (Yeah, we're weird that way.)

One question at the top of Jim's list for which he wants answers relates to the Kennedy assassination and the truth of how many gunmen really were involved. Hmm, that sounds like a reasonable wonder ... I suppose. If I were to gain knowledge about anything related to JFK, I'd be more interested in finding out what the deal was with Marilyn. But that's certainly not at the top of my list. And I do have a list.

Here are a few of the questions I'd really like answered -- truthfully, honestly, fully:

  • Why do birds on a wire space themselves perfectly? And how do they know the correct spacing?
  • What was the unequivocal meaning of the LOST finale?
  • How do monarch butterflies know when and where to migrate? Or salmon know how far upstream to swim? And geese know which goose should be leader of the V?
  • What's the story on Jesus' teen years? Was he angsty? Did he mouth off to his parents? Was he bummed about the task facing him in adulthood?
  • If two socks go into the dryer but only one comes out, where has the other gone? (And don't tell me the dryer vent hose because I've looked.)
  • Why does it take water longer to boil when watched?
  • Is there really such a thing as a soul mate? And are we in trouble and deemed lazy if we didn't continue the search until we connected with him or her? If, that is, we didn't connect correctly?
  • Related: Is it truly better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all?
  • Where do bad folks go when they die, if they really don't go to heaven where the angels fly? Do they go to a lake of fire and fry? And will we see them again on the Fourth of July?
  • In the same vein, where have all the flowers gone? And, more importantly, who are you? Who, who? Who, who? I really wanna know.
  • Is it true that elephants remember everyone they've met? Oh, and are they embarrassed that humans think they're scared of mice?
  • Come to think of it, do animals get embarrassed?
  • If you're chosen to be a contestant on Minute To Win It, do they ask you if you're tone deaf, just to ensure they're not setting you up for failure by giving you the Spoon Tune challenge?

Oh, my. So, so many questions, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. I look forward to one day learning all the answers to all my questions.

Once I propose my list to the Keeper of All Knowledge, though, I have a sneaky feeling his/her question to me will be, "Why are you such a dumbcuss making light of such things?"

In that case, I'll just shrug my shoulders and say, "I dunno. You tell me!"

Photo: stock.xchng

Today's question:

What question(s) would you like answered?