Monday, October 28, 2024
One of my earliest memories of keeping up with Nanny and Grandpa was audio cassette tapes and home video. Phone calls were expensive so Nanny and Grandpa would record all their news and send us the tape and we would do the same. They also sent a video recorder so Dad could capture snippets of us going about our business (playing outside usually). He willingly did this but without much of an eye to the overall production. He'd usually film a minute or two and then remind us to "Wave to the camera!" which meant that lucky Nanny and Grandpa got a whole reel full of us waving.
When we were older we got letters, birthday cards, the occasional exciting visit and later emails. Nanny liked to write and she would share details of what she was cooking, the garden, who had visited... I share her fondness for baking and I still have the Betty Crocker cookbook and angel food cake pan that she found and shipped to me, and we all remember the handwritten recipe cards that she would send with a particularly good recipe.
She also sent her writing. I have a folder of stories that she wrote about her life. I can say that after painstakingly searching newspaper archives for any tiny snippet about other family members it is really special to have something so personal - Vanya
