My Grammie

I was the first grandchild on my mom’s side of the family. For 2 years I was the only baby:) Because of that, I think I have a special bond with my Grammie. In reality our bond has more to do with our interests than my being the first grandchild.

My Grammie, Lorrie Zernickow, loves crafts, writing, music, hosting, photography and entertaining. She is adventurous and loves to camp and travel. Her living room has bookshelves full of photo albums from her trips. Now if that doesn’t sound like ME (with the exception that I am just starting to like cooking), I don’t know what does.
When I was a young girl we would visit my Grammie and she and I would sit and play all her instruments, specifically her banjo and accordion. She would play (I would pretend to play) and we would both sing. These were some of the earliest memories I have with Grammie.

Our family had a motor home and went camping for 2 weeks up the coast of California to Canada when I was in first grade. My Grammie went with us and cooked and cleaned every night. We saw the Grand Tetons, Glacier National Park, and a whole bunch of other cool places along the way. When we were at our campground, I think in Wyoming, Grammie was outside when a Buffalo walked RIGHT past her as she was cleaning dishes outside.

Blue Grass Festivals were a really special event that Grammie would take me, and ONLY me to. We spent the weekend with her singles group at a Blue Grass Festival and slept in tents and cooked over a fire and the whole nine yards. I was 12 and there was a reenactment of a shootout in the ghost town. They dressed me up like an 1800’s girl and I had to scream as my “dad” was shot out of a window (in the facade town). As you can imagine I thought I was the next Julia Roberts.

There were other weekends I would spend the night at Grammie’s house and we would always cook or create SOMEthing. Once she had bought a whole bunch of men’s vests at a garage sale and gave me lace and paint and every kind of embellishment known to man and let me decorate my own vest to wear in a photo shoot with her.

Hosting and cooking are maybe her favorite things to do. When Grammie married Rip I was 12, but I will never forget the hustle and bustle in her home that day. Not only did we ALL get ready at her house, but she and my Uncle Michael were COOKING for the ENTIRE reception in her kitchen and decorating her garage and back patio and pool for the reception! SHE DID IT ALL, and it was beautiful and very lavender (her FAVORITE color). Now she leads PotLickers (a pot luck group in her community) and hostest Halloween parties and Christmas parties and New Year’s parties and every other kind of party you could think of. She is a WONDERFUL planner and gracious hostess and no one will EVER go hungry under her roof!

Now that I think about it, I am fairly certain I get my planning personality from her. I am a ‘doer’ also, meaning I love to get an idea, spear head it and get it done!!! Glad I got that from her!

As I got older we talked about writing. My Grammie has BEAUTIFUL handwriting. She did calligraphy and her handwriting is so distinct, I can spot it from the house window as the mailman is putting her card in our mailbox. Not only is her handwriting beautiful, but she LOVES to write narratives. In her 55 and older community that she lives in, she taught a class on writing your autobiography and taught others how to research their lineage. She has sent me parts of my family history that I would have never otherwise known about.

She really opened my eyes to the medium of writing. Writing is an art. I am not very eloquent, but we share our hearts, thoughts, experiences and stories through writing to be passed on for generations. I want my family to know me, long after I am gone, so that is why I write.

I am my Grammie. Parts of her anyway. We are so similar and I love that as I have gotten older I see how much alike we are. I love you Grammie thanks for inspiring me!!!