cocoa, cottage cheese, ice cream and Jergen's

My youngest son is home on Christmas break from college. He just completed his first semester and all indications are that he has been asked to return for another. One down, 7 to go. In preparation for his return home I stocked up on the essentials: Chocolate milk, egg nog, and Yoo Hoo. You are probably familiar with the first two. The third is a drink, a dairy by-product that looks like chocolate milk, tastes like chocolate milk, has the consistency of water and a shelf life equal to plutonium 239. But, my little boy was coming home, and after they have been gone awhile you tend to forget how much they drive you crazy and want to give them the creature comforts they miss at college: clean sheets, a full refrigerator and Yoo Hoo. Stocking up the fridge, I was reminded of how my grandparents would do the same for me when I came to visit. As one of the very youngest of dozens of grandchildren, my grandparents, especially my grandma, would dote on me. At the time, I did not recognize this as doting, but rather as them being cool adults that didn't constantly tell me what to do like those pesky parents. They would always have, as grandma called it, 'Nestlie's Coco', cottage cheese, and ice cream on hand for me. It's safe to say my sweet tooth was in high gear during my stays there. Grandma was blind, she lost her sight about the time I was born. She was diabetic, and glaucoma took her sight and one of her eyes. She had a glass eye and every once in awhile we'd tell her, 'Grandma, your eye is crooked'. She would then adjust it and asked how it looked. Better now. Since she never really saw me, when I would arrive at their house, she would use her hands to 'see' me, determining how much I had grown, how long my hair was (not a chance of that, if you knew my dad), and how much tummy I had, always ample. Without fail, she would feel my elbows, always dry, chapped and scarred. She would note how rough they were and then lead me to the kitchen where she kept her Jergen's lotion. Grandma would then apply the first of many coats of Jergen's and at the end of my stay, they were softer and definitely greasier. Grandma knew precisely where everything was in her house. Often, she would have to tell Grandpa (whose eyes worked just fine) where something was. Grandma always hummed and sang, and could put a record on the record player, set the needle, and listen to music all day. When she was younger and still had her sight, she would play the organ and accompany my uncle Palmer, who played the guitar and mandolin. When my dad was young, he and my grandma would hire out to harvest potatoes, working side by side in the fields during harvest time.It was the depression, and there was a family to feed. My dad was always very close to his mother, or 'mum' as he called her. I suspect this closeness was formed during those potato harvests, when they would spend very long days together. Despite her blindness, grandma never complained. her glass was always full. She loved to dress up and go out to dinner or just 'visiting'. When I would stay with my grandparents, they would get me all cleaned up and we would go out 'visiting' the relatives. I sat between them in the front seat of their '57 Chevy, and grandma would ask me how many cars grandpa passed. I don't think that endeared me to grandpa, but it was just part of the day with them. Grandma passed away at the age of 80, the first close relative of mine to die. I think she would be pleased that I get the things my son likes for his visits. She would approve of my son too, feeling his face, his tummy, his elbows. She might make a comment about his hair, but that would not stop her from pouring him a glass of chocolate milk. And maybe a little Jergen's on his elbows.