When I was little and my grandmother would come visit, the first thing I would ask if “What stupid things have you done lately?”  This was an ongoing joke with us because she was always doing some sort of nutty thing. She would wear two different shoes to work or think she looked fantastic since everyone was looking at her only to realize when she saw herself in the mirror, she’d left curlers in her hair.

One time, she was in a boutique with a friend looking at purses and they thought the sales lady was being pushy. When the woman went in the back to find something else for them, they took the opportunity to leave. My grandmother was walking along looking in the store windows when she realized she had one of the purses on her arm and had to go back.  Another time we were walking down the street to go to lunch at Red Barn and go to the Grand Union (really dating myself here with these places) and as we walked along we kept finding change on the sidewalk. I was excitedly picking it up and finally ask my grandmother to put it in her wallet. That’s when we realized the change portion of her wallet was open and as she swung her arm as she walked, she was sprinkling the change on the ground.  She went to see Last Tango in Paris which she expected to be “a nice dance movie.” It was dancing – just horizontal dancing.

Today I did my own stupid thing. I thought I was wearing black pants but actually had blue ones on. They really didn’t go great with the tops and shoes I was wearing. Would have been a fine outfit had I been wearing the black slacks. I didn’t notice until after work when I was in better light. Cripes, I thought, I’ve become my grandmother but then I laughed. Actually she’s exactly who I want to be as I age. Full of life, humor and kindness.

Tonight, I’ve picked “Black Slacks” as a reminder of today’s events and of my grandmother and all the “stupid things” she did. We shared a lot of laughs over those things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1BjKwDhoYM