Growing up, I lived with my grandparents on and off. A big part of that was spending all day with my grandma. We also loved to bake together; another thing she would do for me is my hair. I am so grateful for her and how she took me and my siblings in.
I lived with her from around the ages three through five. I basically lived at her house; I slept in her room and my brothers shared a room. We would do all sorts of things like play with my toys and bake. I remember I had a little horse that I learned to braid on. I would braid its mane and tail everyday. Another one of my favorite toys was a purple teddy bear that I still have to this day. She gave this teddy bear to me for one of my birthdays and I would take it everywhere we went. One of the games that I loved to play with her on the kitchen table was tic-tac-toe. We would play that almost everyday before dinner. I always thought I was the best at tic-tac-toe, but I now realize that she would let me win every time. I loved waking up every morning to see that my grandma was there for me.
One of my dearest memories with her was baking. I would always help bake anything that she was trying to make. My favorite thing to make was banana bread. Every time we made it, we would change something or add a new thing. My grandma would mix all the ingredients while my brothers and I would mash the over ripe bananas. I always wanted to add maraschino cherries and cherry juice because it is literally the best ingredient to spruce up banana bread. We would bake other things like cookies and cakes. We would bake every cake for all the birthdays. She influenced me to begin my journey as a baker.
Every morning, my grandma would do my hair no matter what. Some days she would take me to go to preschool in the morning, so she would do my hair in all sorts of styles. When she would do my hair she would use the hair ties with beads. A popular hairstyle that we would do all the time was pigtails on the top of my head. I loved it when she would do my hair. Spending that extra time with her in the morning before the day started was one of the best ways to start my day.
Growing up with my grandparents wasn’t ideal, but I loved every minute of it. I adored spending my days with her, baking with her and her doing my hair. I loved and adored her so much. She was the best grandma that I could ever ask for.
