Happy Birthday Grams! 09/28/09

It’s my grandmother’s 75th birthday today.

Grams at age 10 with her new Schwinn bicycle (and cat!)

There was hard work to be done on the Wisconsin farm where my grandmother grew up, but as the baby of the family by nearly 10 years, she was doted on — her sister Dorothy even took Grams along on dates to the drive-in.

Grams did let Dorothy ride her Schwinn once — but the story goes that Dorothy was not a very skilled rider and promptly crashed into the merry-go-round their dad had rigged up out of a plank and a wagon wheel. Grams still remembers the scratch it made on the fender.

My grandparents before their prom. They celebrated their 50th anniversary in June 2006.

Grams married right after college and had my dad a year later, but kept working to achieve her professional goals. She became a special education teacher who completed a Masters and made it a dissertation away from a PhD, while working and raising four children. Once they were grown, she helped take care of my brother and me on the days my mom worked. Grams taught me to read and bake — two things I still love today! Like Dottie’s equally awesome grambev, she reads and comments on this blog (as “Grams” of course!).

Happy birthday Grams! Maybe by the time I am 75 I will be able to finally make a piecrust that’s as good as yours.

Grams and me