Side note: My Grandma Louise is my mom's mom, who passed away November 2007. She was the light of our life and the head woman of the family, above our own mama. We found out she had cancer that Fall, but it had gone so far and she didn't want to go through any kind of treatment (she was 82). So we moved her from Columbia, SC to my aunt's house in Decatur, GA, so my aunt (who could work from home) could take care of her & make her comfy as possible. Grandma was just hilarious and that grandma that you couldn't wait to see. She always loved us - always. She spoiled us to death, but made us feel so special and loved. When we would drive up to see her in SC, Grandma had a tendency of still being in her nightgown at 4pm :) with curlers in her hair of course (a woman of my own heart!). She liked to "take her time" with things, as do I :) I remember she used to always wear these house dresses; they were almost like dressed-up nightgowns, that you could maybe wear outside... but they were really nightgowns :)
Anywho, we were shopping pretty much all day on Saturday in Nashville and I saw at least 3 women who reminded me of grandma. One woman in particular, we saw her in the mall bathroom. She had white hair and was taller than my grandma was, but she totally had a pink house dress on and little shoes! She was carrying her purse in her hand and went to each stall, looking at the toilets lol. She said out loud, "These are just too low. I need a higher one. The one in my house is higher than these!". Poor thing! She needed a higher toilet! There was another older woman in there powdering her nose and she turned and pretty much said, "I know, right?!" :) Awww loved it.
I happened to tell my own mom about this instance and about the other women who reminded me of grandma. My mom had had some wine (never sure how much), but she just stared at me. I couldn't tell if she was sad, happy or about to cry. I told her about the dress/nightgown the woman was wearing and the whole toilet comments. She looked at me and said, "Was it pink??" - IT WAS! It was just too crazy that she said that!! My mom immediately perked up and said, "I have grandma's nightgown, do you want to see it?". She had never told me that she's kept this specific nightgown (this was actually the one that she was wearing, when she passed away). It didn't look quite like the one I saw on the lady in the bathroom, but it was definitely pink.
My mom and I sat there and smelled the nightgown; it smelled like grandma. My mom said she keeps it wrapped up in one of my grandpa's sweatshirts he used to wear. Who would've known that a smell of someone could comfort someone so much. I saw a little change in my mom - a little bit of sadness, but happiness and calmness too. She thanked me so much for telling me that and said, "Thank you for loving me. I'm so glad I got you." :) I was trying to not make her cry this whole time and said, "Well you've got me and I got you!" :)
This is the closest picture I could find, to this magical pink nightgown. Excluding the creepy manican and the collar on the dress, this is it :)
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