about grandma Muller

This will probably take a while. I usually prefer to write quickly and release whatever the heck I’ve written to you all before I abort and pull it back for nevermore but now I’m attempting to put to narrative the story (or part of the story) of the woman and person who created my entire world (in a special sort of way).

What is my 1st memory of grandma Muller? And, for some reason unknown to me this is what I always called her. I think my other grandma and namesake (Dorothy) was always a bit jealous of grandma Muller and thus using the last name must have set them apart in my name sake’s somewhat jealous (but innocent) mind. My mother’s mom’s name was always, nanny (to me) and not grandma. My father’s mom was always referred to as grandma Muller and that was that and that was all.

Interestingly enough, my first 4 years I lived in the top floor of my nanny’s two family house on Long Island but for some reason (which I’ll explore) grandma Muller was the grandmother who from the beginning of my life retained the love from the depths of my heart.

Grandma Muller was awesome and I’m not using this over used word loosely here because she truly was awesome! She cooked and cleaned and sang songs all the time…well, she always hummed. She took me with her everywhere when I was visiting and every outing always ended up with her bringing me to somewhere fun but mostly a cool park or the shore where the boats would dock in Northport. She would take me to all the speciality markets but we enjoyed the farm stand the best, for sure. No matter the day or the chores she needed to get through she forever put me first and never failed to make me feel special because I was (I still am) a challenge of a person but grandma Muller saw the parts of children that only grandmas do.

So, what is my 1st memory of grandma Muller? I’m not quite sure but I think she was holding me and telling me about why something was the case or perhaps it was a silly story or two. Grandma Muller always smelled really good! She didn’t smell like cookies; she smelled like baby flowers and a bit spicy feminine and she was so classy all the time with her clothes always fresh and pressed and she wore a tad of makeup and a few pieces of jewelry. She never pierced her ears but I’ve not many memories of her not wearing clip on earrings…she loved the color turquoise blue.

I followed grandma Muller like a puppy for the majority of my life. I was in awe of her and all that she knew and could do. She was a heavy reader and one of the best writers I’ve ever Known! She was graduated valedictorian from Newtown H.S. in Maspeth Queens N.Y. and got a position right out of school as a journalist for a local newspaper but my dad came into the picture within a few years and he, like me, was a big and challenging handful spitfire so she had to put her pen and paper aside to raise my dad and then soon enough, her very busy family of four rambunctious fair skinned light haired boys- (Harry (my dad), William (my godfather), Robert and Eugene).

Grandma Muller loved the birds in her endlessly large garden and she enjoyed always whenever possible being outdoors. Grandma Muller might be just about the biggest nature lover of them all. Her favorite of all birds was the gloriously red cardinal and because of her I know that the cardinal is the biggest of the finch family. “You can tell a finch by its reddish orange beak.” My grandmother was the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen and her smile flew from her face just as beautifully as all those birds she cherished too.

(I’LL TAKE A BREAK HERE BUT NOT FOR LONG BECAUSE THERE’S SO MUCH MORE TO WRITE ON GRANDMA MULLER BECAUSE SHE LIVED FOR 100 AND A HALF YEARS, YOU KNOW)