Once upon a time, my grandad had a dance band, comprised of him and three other friends. They would travel around country towns and play for the locals at their town hall. All the locals would come dressed in their Sunday best for a night out of dancing, drinking and being merry. My grandad just has a knack for singing. As Nan says, "I'm not sure where he got it from because it certainly didn't come from me or his father". So I suppose you could just say that granddads been lucky to be blessed with such a talent. He also plays the accordion, organ and piano. So today I spent my afternoon at Nan’s nursing home listening to grandad sing for the oldies at their Christmas party. He and his friend played plenty of old songs such as 'smile the while' and 'Tennessee waltz'. Once again, I can't help but get that warm, fuzzy feeling knowing that this is my family and how proud of them I am. Grandma joined us too and held Nan’s hand as grandad sang. Safe to say that grandma was on her best behaviour today as usually it’s a different story.
My grandma and I have many moments of love and laughter. My mum and I take her away on regular trips interstate to go shopping and sightseeing. Our three favourite destinations are the sunshine coast, Melbourne and cairns. Each and every time we head away grandma and I get up to plenty of mischief, as mum says, we are "partners in crime". My grandma means the absolute world to me and I can honestly say that I am not sure what I would do without her. I suppose she won't mind me saying this, but she is the only person who farts in a shopping isle and runs away, buys grapes from the supermarket and eats them on the way around and then goes back for a top up before she leaves, laughs until she cries, swears when she isn't suppose to, pinches you on the bum in the most inappropriate places (church), says crude and rude jokes and so very much more. Suppose some things never change though because when my grandma was a little girl she would walk down the street to her neighbours house, pick beautiful big flowers from their garden without them knowing , run back to her house, tie them in bunches with string and place them for sale out the front of her house to get pocket money. One day, Nan found out what she was up to so she made grandma walk the flowers back to her neighbours house, apologise to them and then Nan told grandma that if she ever did that again she would tie her to the apricot tree in the backyard for the afternoon. Grandma thought this was hilarious, but she certainly never stole flowers again. But hey, she's still naughty.
Mum gets annoyed that no one can do it like Grandma. For instance, no one can cook like grandma. I think a lot of people think the same though? I’m not alone on this one. Grandma's food always tastes ten times better than anyone else’s. When I was a child and I had to stay home from school because I was sick, which by the way, very rarely happened, I basically had to be dying to stay home from school. Anyway, I would be sent down the road to my grandad and grandma's house for the day. Here I had my all time favourite 'vegemite soldiers' and 'coffee milk'. Your probably wondering what vegemite soldiers are, well I must say that there is a real art to making vegemite soldiers, it’s very difficult. Well its vegemite toast cut into three pieces. Yes, sounds very easy I know. But it most definitely isn't because grandma's always tastes better. Might be the butter she uses or even the way she spreads the vegemite, I don't know. Still to this day, it’s a mystery! Suppose I will just have to keep practicing . . .
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