Pushing Her Buttons

My grandmother, Harriet “Hattie” Byer was a woman of small stature…she stood just 5 feet…in her “tall” days…more like 4 feet 10 inches or less in her later years. While she was definitely short, Grandma was, nevertheless, feisty!! Every one of her children knew that their mom could take them to the floor in one fail swoop if the crossed her. She was the family boss, and they needed to toe the mark. It wasn’t that Grandma was mean, because she was one of the most loving moms you could have ever known. Her children knew that she loved them unconditionally, but they also knew that she expected them to mind her and be well behaved.

That carried on to her grandchildren as well, which is where I came into the story. I was one of her many grandchildren. While some of her grandchildren…especially the boys, crossed her a number of times, I can only remember one spanking…and one was enough. I knew that I didn’t want to sass Grandma again. Some of the boys…I was the only girl in the group of four grandchildren who were around my age, so I got to hear about some of the antics of the boys and the repercussions of my grandmother. They told me about the broom that somehow reached around the corner and got you as you ran away. The way she could somehow see through the floor to the basement. The bar of soap conveniently placed in their mouths for saying “bad” words. While the antics of the boys made me feel like “amateur night” because I wouldn’t have dared to pull the things they would, I must say that I got a kick out of the stories they told. I couldn’t believe the nerve of them, but I guess that is boys. They pushed her buttons quite a bit further than I would have. These days, I think it’s just funny, but as a kid, and one of five daughters of my parents, the antics of boys were not in my wheelhouse. These days as the grandmother and great grandmother of boys and only two girls, I understand boys much better than I used to. In fact, I can see my grandsons and even the great grandsons pulling some of the stunts my cousins used to. None of them were really “bad” boys, just mischievous boys. And these days, it makes me laugh to see the similarities to my cousins. They probably drove Grandma half crazy. Nevertheless, she loved each and every one of them. Today is the 117th anniversary of my grandmother’s birth. Happy birthday in Heaven, Grandma Byer!! We love and miss you very much!!