My Nanny

For today's Thinking Back Thursday I'd like to share some of my favorite memories about my Nanny...my grandma on my mom's side. Her full name (including her catholic confirmation name) is Emily Mildred Theresa Caterino Bakken...whoa...that's a mouthfull! I'll just stick with Nanny!

My earliest memories of her are when we lived in Modesto, CA and we had a pool in the backyard. I just remember her laying out on a lawn chair watching us kids and smoking her cigarette.

My Nanny has always made the BEST homemade spaghetti sauce with italian sausage and meetballs. However when I was little, I was clueless and had no appreciation for it. She would labor over the stove for a HUGE family gathering making her sauce and when mealtime came I would say..."can I just have butter on my noodles please!" But she loved me dearly and always set aside a plain bowl of noodles before she lathered the rest of them in her yummy sauce.

I mentioned staying at my Nanny and Papa's house in a previous thinking back..but I'll elaborate. I stayed with them for over a month the summer when I was 6 years old. They managed an apartment complex so there was a pool and always lots of interesting people around. There was one lady who had a parrot and another who was a clown....stuff like that. Everybody loved my grandparents and they would often stop by the front office just to say hi to my Nanny while she was working. Every morning my Nanny would stand at the bottom of the stairs and call me down for breakfast. When I got downstairs my breakfast would be sitting there on a tray in front of the couch waiting for me. I would eat breakfast while watching the show "Alice" (you know the one with the waitresses who worked at Mel's Diner) Our favorite was when the character Flo would say, "Mel, kiss my grits!"
My Nanny ALWAYS had a jar of pickles in the fridge for me because she knew they were my favorite! And one of our favorite commercials was the vlassic one with the bird that would say, "that's the best tasting pickle I ever had." Remember the one with girl who says, "Dad...when you gonna eat that pickle?" That was our favorite.
Then there was the Young and the Restless. I watched it with her everyday that I was there! She still watches it everyday...I gave up the habit years ago!
When I left and went back home that summer, my Nanny had a really hard time letting go of me. In fact there were days that she would prepare my breakfast tray and call for me, only to realize I was gone. She told my mom she would never keep a grandchild that long again...it was just to hard to let them go afterwards. There are so many memories, but I know all you bloggers out there prefer posts that aren't on the lengthy side! So I'll share more another time. I just want to say that my Nanny is the BEST. I love her tons and love spending time with her playing cards. She is the coolest, hippest, cutest 85 year old lady you'll ever see!

This is her and I at her 85th birthday with the cake I made for her!