My grandmother moved in with us when I was five or six. Glammy was my mom’s mother, and she stayed with us for about ten months. This was a temporary stay, as she was between homes. She lived with us after she sold the family home until she bought a new, smaller home.

I have few memories of that time. It was certainly a disruptive on some level, although I don’t recall that. My dad got along very well his mother-in-law, but I am not sure how well that played over this extended stay. I know that I could not live with my mom again, not for ten days, let alone ten months, but there was little friction. The three kids must have been somewhat inconvenienced too, but that didn’t have a lasting impression. I know that Glammy slept in my brother’s room, and he was clearly displaced, but I don’t know where he went, if he got the basement, or moved into Neeroc’s and my room and we went to the basement, or what happened. I am pretty sure that I got to stay in my room and my siblings had to move artound (I was the baby after all).

My best memories of this time are of cuddling in bed with Glammy. She would tuck me in at night, or I would sneak into her room in the morning. We would hide under the covers and laugh and tell silly stories, watch tv in her room, or just hang out together. My clearest memory is of one of our tuck-in cuddles. We were lying in the dark, and I was telling her all about the many stuffed animals that were piled all over my bed.

There were at least fifteen, and each had a name, a story, a blankie, and a special place in the bed. This night, as she had done before, Glammy patiently played along with me and listened to each story. The stories were going smashingly until we got to “Mousalita”, my little stuffed mouse*. At this point she started shrieking “there’s a mouse in the bed, there’s a mouse in the bed”. I laughed and tried to explain that it was a stuffed mouse, but every time that I said “mouse”, she started shrieking again, to my great amusement. It went on for a while, getting more and more giggly. My mom, finally came in and broke it up and I went to bed. This became our thing though, and was repeated on many a night.

I thought of this last night as I kissed and tucked Woo and Goose in before I went to sleep. Their beds, you see,

are piled high with stuffies and blankies, just like mine always was. Wonder when we will start to hear all about them at bedtime.

*I was very original with names, others included Liony, Beara, Leo (a leopard, of course), and my favourite, Rabbadoodazz.