Great-Grandma Style

This week I'm preparing to launch my oldest off to college. I went to print off some pictures of the family so my daughter Meghan could take a little piece of us with her while we're apart. I came across this video of Meghan and her Great-Grandma Cusumano, or Grandma Cuckoo as we lovingly call her.

My grandma is ninety years young. She LOVES to give away anything and everything she's collected over the years. We give her gifts at Christmas and her birthday and wait with eager anticipation to hear who in our family she's passed on her new robe, or jacket onto.

Pay attention to the end of the video. She encourages Meghan to add a timeless accessory to her jacket pocket.

I wish everyone could have their very own Grandma Cuckoo.

I love my Grandma!

God blessed me with the best grandma.

Today we are taking a drive down to see her. Paul has court in the Bay Area so we are all tagging along to hang out with Grandma Cuckoo, as we lovingly call her.

She will be eighty-nine in March and is already bragging about her big 90th birthday bash.


How about you? Anyone out there blessed with a Grandma like mine?

Grandmas are moms with lots of frosting.

This here is my grandma. At 88 years old (88 and a quarter, is how she shares her age), she took a two hour Amtrak train ride to our house to be here this weekend for a family BBQ. All her children, seven of her eight grandchildren and nine of her twelve great-granz (as she calls them) will be here.

She is in all her glory.

In honor of her visit, I wanted to share a couple of favorites that I love about my grandma.

1. Grandma loves me no matter what. In all my forty years and through many dumb mistakes, she has always been in my corner. As a teenager I went to my first party and was introduced to alcohol. My parents punished me by not allowing me to babysit my siblings that day (they both were to be gone) and told my grandma to make sure that I didn't take a nap. They wanted me to be as miserable as possible when they met with me later that evening.

Grandma put me right to bed. When my father would call to check on me she would run into the room and whisper, "Joey, your father is on the phone, hurry, wake up and talk to him!"

2. She calls me all the time. Now married and the mother of four children, I am a bit busy. Grandma calls to check on me, to see how the kids are doing or to just congratulate us on any milestones the kids have made. If I don't call her back, I will get machine gun calls over and over again until I dial her number.

Oh, and did I mention that she signs her phone messages? "Joey, this is your grandma. Where are you honey? What are you all up to? I am doing good. Did you get my last message? I am starting to worry about you. Where are you guys?!? I can't wait to see you on Thursday. Did you talk with Judy about what time to pick me up at the train station? I love you honey............Grandma."

3. Grandma always loves on me with food! As a child she would have my favorite sugary cereal at her home "Peanut butter Capn' Crunch" waiting. When I visit even now, she makes me her homemade rice pudding. Just this week when she came to stay she brought me and Paul and whole box of See's Candy!

Maybe this is why I have struggled with my weight all my life.

4. She has been my blessed memory maker. I can't look back on my life and not have Grandma right there alongside almost every precious memory. Sleepovers at her house were awesome! She would put on the heating blanket in the spare room so that when my sister and I would go to bed it would be all toasty warm for us. All holidays as a child were spent at her house. Christmas, Easter, even the fourth of July was spent hanging out at her house, eating her crab dip and of course with an Italian Grandpa...masttoccolis at every meal.



I'm right back on food again, aren't I?



Having Grandma over is more blessing than I can convey with words. Yes, she can drive me a bit batty, yes..she is hard of hearing...and yes, she is starting to really slow down. But today when her family comes, she will be showing us her dance steps, hugging all of her children when they arrive...and telling us all for the millionth time....





"Can you believe that I started all of this?!?"





I love you Grandma.



Love your FAVORITE Granddaughter,

Grandma Has an Addiction

Those of us closest to grandma know she is addicted. We have grown up in the shadow of this stronghold in her life. All of her children, grandchildren and now great-grandchildren are aware of the 7:00pm hour and what it does to her. We have only made the mistake once, if ever, of calling at that time.

Her obsession….’The Wheel of Fortune.’

This picture is of my husband Paul and Grandma playing a round of the game while family looked on. Grandma wanted to prove that at 87yrs old, she is still top dog. Paul went along with the fun and sat staring at her, while whispering loudly (remember she is pretty deaf), “I am getting into your head Mary!” The rest of us were rolling with laughter, when after one round, the clue was ‘Showbiz’ and the answer was supposed to be ‘Outtakes and Deleted Scenes’, my grandma blurted out, “Cattles and Deleted Smenes!” (Yes, that word was 'Smenes' pronounced 'Smeanies')
(My aunt taking pictures of Grandma with a few of her 'great-granz' as she calls them.)

My brother-in-law Eric and my sister Jennifer orchestrated this family event. You see since my mom died, seven years ago, we have really not been back to celebrate holidays with our extended family. Most contact with our cousins, aunts and uncles lives has been through our Grandma, via the telephone. On the drive in yesterday morning, I realized just how emotional it is for me to come back for a holiday visit. I cried quite a bit on the way in. Wondering to myself, “What the heck is wrong with me? Where are all these tears coming from?” All the while knowing what it was. Every thought in my head was of my mom and the holiday memories I had experienced for the first 33 years of my life. They were ALL at my grandma’s house. After we all got there, my grandma said to me over and over, “This is the best day of my life. I wish it would never end.”
(This is a picture of us cousins. The cousins that weren't able to be there...well, someone thought to grab 20yr old pictures of them so they could be included in the photo too!)

Going back to grandma’s yesterday was such a blessing. There was such joy. We laughed SO MUCH!!! The only sadness in the day was that my youngest sister and my mom’s youngest sister couldn’t make it with their families. I was so grateful that Eric and Jen pulled us all together. I pray our future holds many more opportunities to hang out at my addicted grandma’s house, as a family.

"Behold I am making all things new..." Rev.21:5

I Can Hear...

As for me, I look to the Lord for his help. I wait confidently for God to save me, and my God will certainly hear me. Micah 7:7 nlt

Last night I took my grandma to watch her oldest great-grandchild (my daughter Meghan) sing in her school’s choir performance. Meg was up on stage with over a hundred other young men and women. I shared with you a few days ago that my grandma is extremely hard of hearing. She worked in a factory on an assembly line when she was young, long before there were rules about wearing earplugs around loud machinery. Her hearing has suffered greatly because of those working years. Thankfully Grandma’s poor hearing didn’t stop her from looking forward to going and watching Meghan perform.

We sat in the audience facing the stage that was filled with a bevy of distinct sounds, these young adults joyfully singing for us. Though all completely different, their voices were one as we listened intently. My grandma sat there with a perpetual smile on her face as the music stopped and started, never once revealing that she really couldn’t hear very well. I hadn’t anticipated being brought close to tears before the performance was over. I tried hard to swallow the lump in my throat when Grandma softly smiled and leaned over to (very) loudly whisper in my ear, “I can hear Meghan.”

I couldn’t help but think that we serve a God who can hear our own voice as well and can pick us out amongst the multitudes. Just as a mother knows the voice of her own precious child or a grandmother the song of her granddaughter...so our God knows our voice and stops to listen to us. God’s word says in Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” Psalm 145:18 says, “The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.” Micah 7:7 says, "...God will certainly hear me." Did you read that? It does not say that “He might hear you or that He will hear you only between the hours of 8am and 5pm. Not at all, it says He will certainly hear you...period.

Isn’t it amazing to stop and think for a moment…the one true and living God, the same God who formed the earth, the very God who hung the stars in the sky and who told the ocean’s waves they could only come so far…He hears his children when we call.

Call out to Him with confidence. He will most certainly hear you.

Granny Goose Arrives Today...

I am blessed to be an almost forty year old mother of four and still have my Grandma around. She is 87 years old and lives about two hours away. She takes the train up to visit our family when the weather isn't too warm and when she can squeeze it in between her exercise classes and day trips to play the slot machines. She is coming today. I am really looking forward to spending time with her. The kids are going to be home quite a bit this week and she will even get to see her oldest great-granddaughter sing in her high school choir event on Thursday. Her family is truly her life, she will love it.

My grandma is a really funny character. She is pretty much deaf but still insists that she can hear everything you say. Our visit is one never-ending game of 'telephone'. Do you remember that game as a kid? It was my favorite...you would sit in a circle and whisper something in your neighbors ear and then whisper what you heard to the person on the other side of you. By the time it got to the last person they would have to blurt out what was said, which was ALWAYS wrong but always so funny. Talking with her is alot like that. Once when my husband Paul was eating his favorite chocolate treat, he offered, "Mary, would you like a Ho-Ho "? With a shocked look, she quickly replied, "Now Paul, why would I want a Homo?"

Pray for us, it's going to be an interesting couple of days...