My nephew, CJ, stayed at our house for a couple of nights at the beginning of this month when he was here in Utah with his family for his oldest sister's wedding. When he was here, he kept asking me to tell him stories about Munna-specifically funny stories. I would tell him one every now and then, but didn't take a minute to sit down and tell him many stories of his great-grandmother. Today, two days after her passing, I am impressed and touched by the sensitivity of that little boy who was expressing the desire to connect with the generations before him. With that in mind, I have sat down this weekend to reflect on the last 17 months of our life, and with this post I hope to give CJ (and everyone else) the collection of Munna stories that he deserved.
Munna arrived to our home and lives here in Utah on February 20, 2008, not even one month after Paulo and I had been married. It was truly an answer to prayers because Paulo's previous patients had passed away and he was without a job. We had been praying for him to be able to find a new patient so he could continue in home care, and not have to work at a nursing home. We were excited to welcome her to our home, and did so with open arms. We got her room all gussied up and decked out- tassles on the lamps and all!
One of the first times we went out shopping with Munna was to Costco. After loading our cart with the necessary bulk items, we stopped in the food court to grab a bite to eat before heading home. I gave Munna the choice between a hot dog and a piece of pizza to eat for dinner. She chose the hot dog. Now, those of you who have seen the hot dogs at Costco know that they are not your normal size hot dogs- these franks are BIG! She looked at the hot dog, and in her best "Scarlett O'Hara" voice said "My goodness- I just don't know HOW I'll eat this whole thing!" She then proceeded to INHALE the hot dog, Homer Simpson style - right down to the last bite!! GULP, GULP, GULP, AHHHH! I half expected her to let out a huge burp at the end!
We took her to Sam's club with us to print some pictures from our honeymoon. I will never forget her sitting on the bench in Sam's Club- in her FUR COAT. She always wanted to make sure she was dressed to the 9's!
Munna loved to sit and watch TV with us, no matter how late we stayed up. She'd always get up, walk to the doorway and turn around to blow us a kiss and say "Goodnight, kids!" She did this every night! One night we watched a movie with her- I can't remember what it was, but it was a pretty scary one, and when it was over she looked at us and said "That was the strangest movie I've ever seen!" She said this about all of the movies we watched! The best was when Paulo was watching "Flavor of Love" (a reality TV show on VH1 where Flavor Flav tried to find love- Bachelor style, only MUCH MORE CLASSY!!) She didn't say anything as she watched the girls going crazy and doing all sorts of inappropriate things on TV, but her face said it all. There was no doubt about how disgusted she was about what she was watching!! She may have been a lady and knew not to say anything, but she could not keep her face from betraying her!!!
We tried to teach her how to say "Flavor Flav!" But she never quite got it: She would say "Flavor Flavor" "Flavor Fresh" and any other version of the phrase, other than FLAVOR FLAV!
She never quite got Paulo's name right, but she sure tried! At first she said it okay, but then one of our friends named Steve came over for dinner one night, and after that she started calling Paulo "Stev-O". We finally got her back to calling him by his real name- mostly. He was always "Paula" to her.
Munna was always concerned about keeping her figure! One day I came home from work and found Paulo and Munna in the den- Paulo was working out on the Wii Fit, and Munna was behind him- White Reebok tennis shoes on with her Orange Crushed Velvet excercise outfit on- touching her toes!!! Every morning she would do leg lifts, and she loved to walk the length of the sidewalk in the summer time when it was warm enough for her. She loved the sunshine, and last summer I would always come home, wonder where Munna was, and I would find her in the back yard on the swing- legs swung over the side of the seat!
She did this because she was horribly jealous of Paulo's tan- she asked him one day "where did you get such a great tan?" She didn't believe him that it was his natural color!
Munna had a great sense of humor, actually- something I never realized until she came here to Utah. One night we had a bunch of friends over for dinner. We were all eating dinner (Munna was working the croud as she always did!) -- one of the guys got up to take their plate to the sink, and on the way back to the table he passed out- HARD. Fell into the table and then crashed into the china hutch. We called 911 because he didn't come back to consciousness right away, but ended the call quickly when he woke up. After he got up and went to lay down, Munna looked at us all and said "Well that was exciting- which one of us will be next?" We all laughed- glad to relieve some of the tension in the air.
One night I was getting dinner ready and I heard Munna fighting with Paulo, yelling "NO NO NO NO NO! I won't go up!" Paulo was dying her hair for her, and he had put a plastic bag on her head to keep the color from running into her face. She walked up the stairs with the most upset look on her face- MORTIFIED that Paulo was making her come to dinner with a plastic bag on her head!!
It was a challenge at times to help Munna through the last days of her life, and I wish I could say that I was 100% patient with her 100% of the time, but I tried my best! It was an experience that I never thought I would have in life, but I consider myself blessed to have had the opportunity to get to know my grandmother better, and be a part of her life for even a small period of time. We'll miss her, but I also know that she is no longer sad and missing Guy, that she can walk without discomfort again, and that she is indeed (no matter how cliche it might sound) in a better place.
My friend Jason Roberts reminds me of his favorite Munna memory: when I lived with Munna, he used to come by the house on the weekends to wash his car. One weekend, I must have forgotten to tell her he was coming by, and she got really mad when she realized she was still in her house dress and didn't have time to "get ready". No worries, about 20 minutes later, she emerged from the house in a nicer housedress (showing not a little leg), red lipstick, and full jewelry.
ReplyDeleteShe also used to pester me about that very same Jason and why he wasn't my boyfriend. Once I told her he already had a girlfriend she got a conniving look on her face and said: "Well, we're just going to have to do something about that."
Well, obviously I've been thinking alot about Munna these past few days. I thought I'd share something that I'm not sure everyone else knows. Y'all remember the summer of 85 I went and stayed at Munna and Guy's for a couple of months after finishing my first year at BYU. It was interesting, but I was glad for the opportunity to get to know Munna and Guy better (some ways good, some not so good, but we're all human, right?) Anyway, I also got to meet Mom's first cousin, Karen, who is Guy's sister's daughter; I still keep in touch with her on facebook. Karen's only a couple of years older than me, and I think she was a student at UGA at the time. Like a good cousin, she invited me to go to Six Flags with her and some of her friends one day. After a long day, we decided to get McDonald's drive through on our way home, and eat it at Munna and Guy's. After we went through the drive through, Karen and I speculated on which set of china Munna would pull out for us to eat on. We finally settled on the white china with the silver border that I think was Ninnie's china. We decided that the plain brown "everyday" dishes wouldn't do for company, nor would the Johnson Brother's (like Mom's). Karen's friends were just astonished that my grandmother (and Karen's aunt) wouldn't let us just eat our McD's on the wrappers provided, but we both knew better. Sure enough, as we all walked into the kitchen, Munna's pulling out the china for us to put our food on. Heaven forbid you eat on PAPER!! I was talking to Karen on Saturday, telling her about Munna, and this was what she remembered about her, and she said we should all use our china instead of keeping it locked in a china cabinet, or in my case, in a box in the basement. I think she's right to, if you have it, you should use it. That was Munna's credo, it would be a waste to have something and simply not use it.
ReplyDeleteAmanda's remark about Munna exercising made me think of her doing her exercises every night while Guy would watch Larry King on CNN (that tells you how old Larry King is...LOL) Munna would get a rolling pin, and roll her thighs, legs, butt, stomach, etc with the rolling pin. She seemed to think it helped. I remember several years ago, seeing a little mag in the grocery store checkout line, "101 rolling pin exercises" I about died laughing right there. Maybe the crazy old lady knew more than we did.... ;-)
I am so glad that you all have such good memories of her. She sounds like she was such a fun lady and loved life to the fullest.
ReplyDelete