My Inpiration
Well, I'm not truly sure if these stories were really "inspiring", but they are about my grandma, who led me to card reading. Family and friends have enjoyed my stories of grandma, and I hope that you do too.
I'm not quite sure how old I was, but I do know that I was a young teen, perhaps 14. I was out camping with my grandma and grandpa. Grandma decided we needed to go to town for some shopping and to do laundry. The first on the agenda was laundry.
This time, I remember how old I was; I was a Junior in High School. My mom took me and my niece to Florida for vacation (we live in Ohio). And the majority of our stay was with, you guessed it, grandma.
Well, here's the inspiration part. First, a little more about grandma.
Here again Grandma goes to the airport, this time with my Aunt Dee (she is alive though). As quite common, as they were boarding the plane, they had to go through security first. They put their luggage on the convieor belt and walked through the metal detector. Nothing happened. This obviously didn't appease Grandma. She went up to security and said, "Aren't you going to check my purse?"
Well, there's more to come later...please let me know what you think of them, I'm quite curious!
Spider Burgers
This event took place at my grandma's house, and although I was quite young (I don't remember how old I was), I know that we were having a family dinner. Now, my grandma's cooking was never described as good, in fact, our family dog, "Romeo", had even refused it, nevertheless, someone let her make dinner that night.
After my mom had prepared my plate of food, I remember just staring at it. I assumed that it was supposed to have been some sort of hamburger; but to a young child, the blackened round-shaped meat looked odd. My mom looked at me and asked, "Mary, whey aren't you eating?"
And I replied, as only an innocent child would, "I'm not gonna eat that Spider Burger!"
The ride there was quite amusing. Grandma was singing, I call it that because I know that's what she was trying to do, some yodlie/western thing (ok, I have to admit right now...country ranks pretty low on my likes of music). Well, this was too much for even grandpa, and he told her how terrible she sounded, I believe he said that she was hurting his ears, but this, of course, did not stop her.
We finally made it to the laundry mat. I helped grandma while grandpa sat by and read the newspaper. Did you ever notice how little kids have this problem about whispering? Well, imagine that....but my grandma instead. For no obvious reason, grandma blurts out, "See that man over there, Mary?" And of course she's pointing at him. I nodded (cheeks turning a little pink).
"Well, just look at him!" I gaze up at him, and give him an apologetic look (whole face is pink now). But dear grandma still goes on.
"Do you think you could make love to a man like that?" Now my jaw has hit the floor, and I can feel all eyes on me (my face is fushia by now). Grandma continues,
"Well, I couldn't! Look at that big, hairy mustache! Who could kiss that?" And sweet grandpa, coming to save the day, replies,
"Why not? I don't mind yours!"
Now, going to Florida wasn't bad; sunshine, Disney World, Bush Gardens. But besides that, was the stay at grandma's. First of all, although it was warm, there was no beach within 100 miles and she lives at a trailor park. But still, I'm not fussy, and I enjoyed being there, most of the time.
The first night, however, did include a strange event. I was put in a spare bedroom, nice and private, right? Well, I went to sleep very comfortable, but when I woke up I was drenched in sweat. The window that had been open, was now closed. The fan was shut off and a blanket had been put on me. I didn't say anything, I didn't worry about it.
The first thing I did was put on my bikini and went outside to get a tan. As I laid in the warm sun, I heard faint chuckling. I looked over and grandpa sat on the steps, finding something amusing. I finally realized what he thought was funny. Here I was, in a bikini, laying out and getting a tan. But grandma? She was working in her garden, wearing dark brown polyester pants, a polyester shirt, with a knitted sweater over it, and a scarf! I just shook my head.
After awhile, I got pretty hot. Grandma was now watering the garden with the hose and I asked her if I could use it to cool off. Grandma took this as an invitation, and aimed the hose at me. Now, probably a squirt or two would have cooled me off, however, grandma obviously thought I needed a full shower of ice-cold water! And it didn't matter to her that I was trying to run away from her, she followed me anyways. And as I kept getting pelted with those sprays of melted ice, I heard grandpa yelling, "Dorothy! Stop that!", plus a distinct giggling from grandma.
Well, things were pretty ok after I went in and put on some warm pants and a sweater (I refused the scarf!) Oh, and I also refused the microwaved bologna sandwiches for lunch.
Before I went to sleep that night, I made sure the window was open and the fan was on. I turned out the light, but before I could sleep, I heard the door open. Now, I must tell you that the lights were out, and my contacts were out, so the only way I could describe what I saw was a huge snapping turtle (they're big in Florida) coming at me with something. I screamed! My mom came running, turned on the light, and there before me was that snapping turtle, in a bra and underwear, holding a blanket. My grandma explained that she was worried I'd "catch a chill" with no blanket and the fan on...and "those weird men across the street could climb in the window and take advantage of you". From there on, my mother enjoyed how we referred to grandman as "the snapping turtle"-grandma.
Although Grandma is odd, and at times annoying, her "gift" of seeing the future, and even the past, can be remarkable. She predicted my grandfather's (not her husband) heart attack and passing away. She has also described events in my life that have come true.
Grandma doesn't read tarot cards. She does her predictions either of two ways. She either reads from a regular deck of playing/poker cards, or she uses nothing. I have asked her how she reads the regular cards and she has replied, "you just have to listen to what they are telling you." I've tried this, the cards must be speaking in braille because I don't hear a damn thing.
Not only has she made predictions for family, but also friends. It was the summer of 1992, my friends and grandma were at my house. My friend, John, had heard about my grandma and wanted a card reading. I asked her to do one, and she said she didn't need the cards. This is what she told John: that he was dating someone with dark hair, but it would end soon; that he would then meet a tall, skinny, blonde, but that wouldn't last long either; and then he'd have a quick unannounced departure. He was dating a dark haired girl, and they stopped dating soon afterward. He then went out with one of my coworkers, who was a tall, skinny blonde. Then, without telling anyone, he just up and left for Texas. We didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to him.
But to back up now, after grandma had given John's prediction, she told me, "someday you will inherit my gift." But, I'm an honest person, as honest as possible, and I have to say that I don't really have her gift...I still need my tarot cards and regular cards still aren't talking.
(In case you're wondering, John did come back after about a month, he's still a great friend of mine.)
The first part of the story is still unclear to me and also to those who have heard it. Grandma apparently was there in the hospital when Grandpa died from lung cancer (caused possibly be a combination of a bacteria in the lungs from working in a greenhouse and from smoking). Grandma was there while the nurses were "cleaning" him. Grandman has claimed to us that they had "broke" his penis...and she was quite upset. She said that she had never seen it so hard before. Again, we laugh at this and I'm still puzzled where she got the "broke".
The next event was flying Grandpa from Florida to Ohio. As Grandma nervously sat on the plane before take-off, the flight assistant (being politically correct) noticed how uneasy she looked. The flight assistant asked if she was alright and Grandma replied that she was just worried because it was her husband's first flight. The flight assistant just figured her husband was in the bathroom or something and just said that things would be ok and she was there to help if they needed it.
After the plane took flight, there was a delay and the plane landed for a small time. The passengers were instructed they could leave for a little bit. Grandma got back on the plane and she quickly found the flight assistant and said, "I need to make sure my husband gets back on the plane! He can't miss the plane and stay in the sun!" The flight assistant thougth nothing of the last comment, but said that she would make sure that her husband was on the plane. The flight assistant came back a little later, and hesitantly told Grandma that her husband wasn't a passenger, that he was not a ticket-holder. Grandma was upset and told her to go find him in the cargo! But before she had Grandma arrested for a stowaway, a passenger next to them, who had met Grandma on the plane, informed the flight assistant that her husband was deceased and the casket was in cargo.
Well, Grandpa's funeral was as any other, except that Grandma insisted on pictures of Grandpa. And it was shocking to see my 6 year old nephew posing by the casket as Grandma snapped some photos. I'm sure Grandpa was laughing and rolling his eyes, wherever he was at that time.Terrorist Grandma
"No, maam, that's not necessary," replied the security officer.
Aunt Dee kept pulling at Grandma and telling her to just come on. But Grandma continued, "Well, I have a gun!"
Aunt Dee kept telling them, "No, she doesn't!"
"Yes, I do...let me show you!"
Grandma then looks through her purse and pulls out a two inch gun...
Aunt Dee yelled at her, "Put that away! It's just a lighter!"
Grandma then demonstrated that it is a lighter and an embarrassed Aunt Dee escorts Grandma away...as Grandma walks again chuckling. Yes, she has a weird sense of humor too.
