She was a gem. She was fiesty, fun and so so funny. I swear she was one of the characters on Golden Girls because depending on the day, she had a witty line or had herself in a funny scenario just like they always did. She was beautiful too. She had a perfect smile, always kept her hair colored and fixed, and young, twinkling eyes. Her voice always reminded me of the character of Edith, Archie Bunker's wife (and if you don't know who Archie Bunker is, you should probably stop reading).
So many of my childhood memories include my Maw Maw Pearl. By the time I was six, my older sisters and brother were in high school. I could either tote around town with my mom to the endless baseball, softball, volleyball, and football games, or I could go stay with Maw Maw and Paw Paw, and I almost always chose to go with them. They lived in a small, green house in Laplace on Maple Loop Lane, but it was the funnest place in the world to me.
I remember so much about my times at her house. I can literally picture every kind of plant she had on her long, screened in front porch. Just the other day, I saw a plant at Lowes and thought, that's a Maw Maw plant. She had an old sofa with wooden frame and cushions that came off if you wriggled around too much. When we were little, we'd hide behind the sofa in the triangular space it made between the wall and the back. It was an excellent place for hide and seek or to play with Barbies. She watched Days of Our Lives every single day, and when she didn't catch it on tv, she recorded it on her VCR. When the power would go out, she would call someone to come reset her VCR for her, like clockwork. There was always a game show on tv too....our favorite was Concentration and 10,000 Pyramid.
We didn't just watch tv though. She cooked....could she cook!! She made the best squash and shrimp and milition and eggplant....and if you didn't eat it, Paw Paw would convince me it was good for my pluto. I never once questioned what my pluto was, but I ate it nevertheless. Sometimes she would let me help her chop the vegetables. We had so many meals at that little round table in her kitchen. You were really special if you got to eat spaghettios on a TV tray in the living room. We NEVER got spaghettios at my house nor could we ever eat in the living room, so that was a double super treat for me.
We walked and walked and walked around that Maple Loop so many times. She would tell me about who lived where and what all they were doing. When Maw and Paw were younger, we'd go in the backyard and work in the garden while Paw Paw cut the grass or skinned rabbits. I always wondered how their giant car fit in that little carport. I could always occupy my time finding roly poly's around her back steps. I remember once, the neighbors were breeding neutra rats (only in Louisiana, folks), and I'd go on the side of the house to get a peek at them swimming in their baby pool. Looking back, that was so weird, but at the time it seemed perfecly normal to me. When she would do laundry, I would imagine the large cedar cabinets were a secret portal, and the only way to enter was with the old skeleton-style key that locked it. Why was that so mesmorizing to me!?
When I'd had enough of the Barbies I brought with me or cards or drawing things, I'd play with her tape recorder. How I didn't wear out my cassettes of Cyndi Lauper's True Colors or Michael Jackson's Thriller albums is beyond me. I would listen to them over and over until I knew all the words. When I learned how to record on blank cassettes, I would do interviews with Maw Maw and Paw Paw or get them to sing for me. I always recorded over what we'd done with new material....never concerned to preserve our voices or anything. If I could only have those tapes today.... I specifically remember my older cousin Aimee coming over one time, and she taught me dances to Michael Jackson's music. I was the most uncoordinated adolescent there was, so that was a huge undertaking for her. But we would dance for hours on their driveway in between the monkey grass.
Sometimes in the evening, Paw, Maw and I would take a ride to Frostop and get some ice cream. It was the BEST ice cream in the world. If it was closed or we wanted something different, she would take me to K&B to pick out something in their long ice cream cooler. I loved going to K&B, especially when they got the automatic gate openers at the entrance. That was major high-tech back then, and I just knew that meant one day I would get to see flying cars or something. Maw Maw always had Lawrence Welk tapes in her car, and we listened to them everywhere we went. I cannot hear the Elephant Waltz without thinking of her and her big car.
Now, if you ever spent the night at Maw Maw's, you surely must've slept on the "pallet." Her pallet was a spare mattress that she kept in the back laundry room, and when it was time for bed, she would lug that thing (which back then seemed sooo huge) across the house to the living room. Once the pallet was down, you knew it was time for bed. But she would always stay and watch tv with you until you fell asleep. Night time TV included old reruns of the Patty Duke show or Dobie Gillis, Gilligans Island and if you were lucky, you'd catch the Golden Girls (while they were originally on TV).
She loooooved to talk. When she would call, she would talk and talk and talk, then catch her breath and talk some more. Sometimes, if you were in a hurry, it would take an act of Congress to get off of the phone with her, but sometimes, she had perfect timing and talking with her was just the pick me up you needed that day.
She and Paw Paw would take me on trips to see mountains or old battle fields or forts. One time my mom, Maw, Paw and I drove all the way up to New York for me to be a flower girl in my Aunt Linda's wedding. I even got to see Niagara Falls (although I don't remember it much), but at the time, it was the coolest thing ever.
Especially on trips, she would often drive my Paw Paw crazy, but he was always her monkey and she was always his Pearl. They loved each other so much. She stayed by his side when he was sick, and she took care of him until he died. When he died, she was heartbroken. So was I. I was in seventh grade, and I don't remember every detail of his death, but I can remember thinking our little "family" would never be the same.
She was always a constant cheerleader in my life. She was always there for me, and if she couldn't be there, she would call. When I moved away to college, she would mail me letters with newspaper clippings of old friends or things she thought I might be interested in. I think she just wanted me to get mail, which of course I loved. She wrote to me at camp. She and my mom even drove to New Hampshire one summer to see me. She would call and leave messages on our answering machines, singing, "I just called....to say....I love you." During our conversations, she would ask about school and grades and stuff, but she would also ask about boys and friends and the good stuff you really wanted to talk about. You could always just stop by to say hi, and she always made you feel like the queen of the world. She made me a better listener.
Not long after I was married and moved to Houston, she had a stroke. She recovered, but she was never the same again. She didn't talk as much. She couldn't get around like she used to. Phone calls involved a lot of one or two word answers. She moved to Minnesota to a wonderful, caring nursing home near my Aunt Yvette (her daughter). It was right after Katrina, so all the nursing homes in Louisiana were filling up due to relocations. I was so angry that she was going to be so far away. I was angry for a long time, but eventually, I understood.
I miss her every day. She was such a big part of my life. Looking back, she was always there, but in my mind, that was just stuff grandparents did. I never realized how intentional and loving every single thing she did for me was until I witnessed my own parents being loving, intentional grandparents.
I love you, Maw.
Happy Heavenly Birthday to you. I hope you and Monkey and Perry are having a big celebration up there together.
Aunt Pearl was a gem for sure. I loved her laugh and couldn't wait to come down in the summer. You're so lucky to have such wonderful memories.
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