{"id":2547,"date":"2015-08-16T18:42:49","date_gmt":"2015-08-16T22:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/?p=2547"},"modified":"2015-08-16T18:46:27","modified_gmt":"2015-08-16T22:46:27","slug":"to-grandmothers-house-we-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/2015\/08\/16\/to-grandmothers-house-we-go\/","title":{"rendered":"To Grandmother’s House We Go…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When I get to be 85 I want you to remind me what a pain in the ass my mother was and perhaps that will help me snap out of whatever craziness I\u2019m going through.<\/p>\n

Let me start by saying, I am a father\u2019s daughter, my relationship with my mother is evolving\u2026even a decade later.\u00a0 I\u2019ve learned a lot from her, especially what not to do, but some of it is incredibly valuable.\u00a0 Like drinking Amaretto at breakfast, just sayin.<\/p>\n

I have been broaching the subject of bringing the dogs on Sunday mornings for, oh five years, but she insists that I don\u2019t, so I didn\u2019t. There are two main reasons why, first the housing authority doesn\u2019t allow tenants to own dogs unless they are service dogs and second there is some left over resentment about something himself did, TEN YEARS AGO.<\/p>\n

People of my mother\u2019s generation are steadfast in their rule following, they don\u2019t waver.\u00a0 People of my generation broke damn near every rule and somehow the earth didn\u2019t open up and swallow us.\u00a0 My argument; the dogs don\u2019t live here they are just visiting.\u00a0 Her argument; but what if someone sees them, they will throw me out and I will be homeless\u2026really? Homeless?\u00a0 While the guys are cursing and smoking in the screened in standalone porch out back and the people on the fifth floor got caught jamming a few extra people into their apartment, you\u2019re going to be homeless because the dogs come to visit?\u00a0 I let it go, several times\u2026<\/p>\n

Himself once brought Tootsie with him when he came down to see my mother about something or other.\u00a0 Tootsie was barely out of puppy stage and himself was in a bit of a hurry to get out and back to his\u2026other preoccupation.\u00a0 So needless to say he didn\u2019t follow the golden rule of bringing a puppy somewhere new by first making sure she was absolutely positively empty..if you know what I mean.\u00a0 In she came, over to a particular corner of the room she went and well she went\u2026as in solid went.\u00a0 My mother was furious but out of the other side of her mouth she laughs about never having seen himself move so fast.\u00a0 So for the next ten years she told the story and forbid me bringing the dogs.\u00a0 I let it go, several times\u2026<\/p>\n

Fast forward a decade and the universe began to conspire with me.\u00a0 Steps were becoming an issue for Mom so she was going to have to think twice about coming to my house, going any further than the mail box or a doctor visit was no longer appealing to her and then her Lina died.\u00a0 Her Lina. That little shit of a pit bull left her earlier this year and she took it pretty hard. \u00a0So I ever so casually asked if I could bring poor Toto over to see Gramma.\u00a0 I\u2019m not exactly sure she said yes, but she didn\u2019t say no\u2026my generation loves a good loophole.<\/p>\n

For the last several weeks Toti Nonna has been visiting Gramma on Sunday morning.\u00a0 Gramma puts out a water bowl in the kitchen and has a little Tupperware full of treats.\u00a0 I allow her to give only three because Toti Nonna is getting too damn fat\u2026they put their heads together about just how mean I am as a mother and thank God she comes to see Gramma where she is spoiled. Toti smooches her every chance she gets and sticks to her like glue, Toti\u2019s tail wags so hard every time the woman speaks I\u2019m sure it\u2019s going to break, Toti lays down right next to her and looks up as if she has been saved. Really both of you?<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re 85 years old you can do whatever you want, you can drink Amaretto with breakfast and you can change your mind.\u00a0 You can welcome your darling little granddaughter with open arms because you know that\u2019s the only way you\u2019ll see her if you\u2019re not willing to travel or go up stairs. There is no better cure for a mundane week than dog breath and waggy tail adoration\u2026I mean nothing better, accept maybe Amaretto with breakfast. Just sayin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I get to be 85 I want you to remind me what a pain in the ass my mother was and perhaps that will help me snap out of whatever craziness I\u2019m going through. Let me start by saying, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[629,615,630],"class_list":["post-2547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pause-points","tag-gramma-love","tag-gratitude-legacyinthemaking","tag-the-adventures-of-toti-nonna"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p27hQ5-F5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2547"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2549,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2547\/revisions\/2549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}