Grandma and Grandpa Thomas

PHOTO: Me, 4 months old

PHOTOS: Me with Grandma Thomas

My mother swears that Grandma Thomas intended to take me (and my brother) from her and raise me herself. I'm pretty sure that is a gross exaggeration of  how it really was. But I do have fond memories of staying at Grandma and Grandpa's house overnight many times, and traveling with them to Ohio every summer to visit Grandma's relatives. We would often go to Grandma and Grandpa's house if there was a blizzard coming and we knew school would be closed for a few days. If we were going to be snowed-in, we preferred to do it on their farm, where there were hills for sledding and a small very shallow pond for ice skating.. Their farm was 16 acres -- two acres wide and 8 acres deep (from the road). It had a couple of rolling hills with a driveway to the side on which Grandpa drove his tractor to the corn fields at the back of the property.  He raised feed corn to feed the pigs. He always kept a few sows and baby piglets, and every year he had one of the pigs slaughtered and sold the meat to get enough money to pay for the trip to Ohio. 

PHOTOS: Grandpa and me

My dad had red hair and was called "Red" by my mother and everyone on Mom's side of the family. Grandma Thomas' hair was a beautiful shade of white all the years I knew her, even though she was only 50 years old when I was born. But I understand that before her hair turned white it was auburn. 

PHOTO: Christie Thomas. This picture was taken in 1944, I believe.

Grandma didn't have any teeth. Back in those days, it was the custom for people to have all their teeth pulled out when they were in their 30s and wear dentures for the rest of their lives. As I understand it, Grandma did that. But she did not have a high tolerance for pain or discomfort, so she never could get used to wearing her dentures. So she just decided to live without them. To my recollection, she was always able to eat just about anything she wanted. The only concession I remember her making to her lack of teeth was that she would have to cut the kernels off her corn on the cob. 

Grandma was already taking medications for her heart and her blood pressure by the time I was born -- she was 50 years old. I don't know for sure what kind of heart disease she had. I remember picking up a red pill off the floor at her house and popping it in my mouth, thinking it was an M&M candy. It tasted awful, of course, so I took it to her (or to my mother, if she was there) and found out it was one of her heart pills. She had malignant hypertension and took meds for that. She was also obese, and her doctors were always trying to get her to go on a diet. But she had no tolerance for that, either. She had enough energy to do all the things other women did -- housework, shopping, etc. -- so she was just not motivated to deprive herself of food. She was a good cook.