Aunt Ginni was not a great cook. She didn’t enjoy cooking and it showed. I don’t know whether her mother ever taught her. From what I know of her childhood, probably not. It’s a shame she wasn’t able to spend more time with her mother-in-law, my great-grandma Ella, as she would have learned all the tricks of the trade.
One summer I spent a week with her and my uncle and every day for lunch, she made grilled cheese. For supper, we went to the county fair since he had to work a booth for the Lion’s Club. I love grilled cheese, but after a few days, even I was craving some variety.
Another week my sister stayed. She and Aunt Ginni would walk down the street to the Dairy Queen so my sister could have a hot dog for lunch. Eating out for supper was the norm.
For holiday gatherings, she always offered to bring something. My mom didn’t want her to feel left out so she would tell her to bring either potato salad, apple salad, or an angel food cake. We had no idea until years later that her potato salad was store bought and she simply added sliced hard-boiled egg on top. Her angel food cake came from Kroger.
She may not have been a Julia Child in the kitchen, but she was a real Bob Vila in the rest of the house. When Ginni wanted something, she was going to get it. She liked to decorate – and her idea of redecorating was remodeling.
After a decade in their house, they decided to turn the garage into a family room, add a back porch, and add a new garage on the end of the house. Once that project was complete, Ginni started her own renovations.
One day my uncle came home from work and found that Ginni had taken a sledge hammer and knocked a big hole in the wall between the living room and family room. When he asked her why she had done that, she said she decided she needed to see in between the rooms. So, construction continued and an opening approximately 4 foot wide and 2 foot high was completed. Another day he came home from work to discover she had made a hole in the wall between a bedroom and the main bathroom. She was quite proud of herself with her renovations, but my uncle did not find her actions as amusing.
Sometimes she would buy things for the house at garage sales. One particular item was a gas fireplace that she wanted hung in the family room.
I was with her the day she bought it. Another gentleman helped load it into her car. When we got home, she came in and told my uncle he needed to go get it and bring it into the house. Grumbling, he went and retrieved the fireplace. When he reached the family room, she had the toolbox out and was ready to go. After a few minutes of back and forth conversation about whether it had to be done THIS minute, my uncle proceeded. From that moment until the fireplace was finally hanging on the wall, let’s just say the conversation exceeded PG-13 standards!
Aunt Ginni proved you don’t have to excel in everything. She wasn’t going to win any cooking competitions, but she certainly kept the hardware store in business. Years later, we still laugh, about the grilled cheese, and the holes in the walls. Life with Aunt Ginni was never boring – and that’s exactly why she’s unforgettable.
Until next time,
-Molly