I pulled out an old pair of earrings today as I was getting ready. They are small gold droplets with a small green stone in each one. My family would recognize these for sure if they saw them. They belong to an old friend of ours, Hanny.
Hanny has been on my mind a lot the past few days. She died 4 years ago this month, and I think it is important to reflect and remember her still, especially as she has been coming to mind so often. So this entry is in memory of Hanny.
Hanny was one of the most unique people I have ever met in my life. My dad would always say whenever someone tried to describe her that “God broke the mold when He made her.” I have been trying to remember what it was about her that was so great, and I have been having a hard time narrowing it down to one specific thing. And that’s when I realized it really isn’t about any huge accomplishment or great award or national recognition that she achieved in her life. It is the details of her life that make her great. It is all the little things added up together that make this unique individual unlike anyone I’ve ever known.
She was a tiny little German lady. She drove a ’67 brown Mustang into the later years of her life and her favorite outfit was a red polyester leisure suit with white polk-a-dots. She loved all animals, and had a special liking for Siamese cats. Her real cat was named Heidi but she had a ton of tiny little cat figurines all over her house. My favorite was the cat that was made entirely out of small seashells. She tried to learn to play the organ late in life and was a master at the mandolin. Her house was always clean and she took a lot of pride in making sure her house and yard was well manicured. She always had a candy jar full of lemon drops, enjoyed making Totino’s pizzas for us whenever we stopped by to visit, and she made the best potato pancakes in the world. She could name and describe all the differences in the clouds and predict when a “real” rainstorm was coming. She loved giving hugs and laughed and smiled often. Everytime I visited her I felt like I was the most important person in the world. She wore those gold earrings with the green stone everyday as long as I knew her.
Lemon drops and seashell cats probably seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but it was these small details that really tell the story of who Hanny really is. I think that is the important thing to remember about people we interact with everyday. They each have a unique story that may not ever be recorded in a book, but we can remember these stories because of the little things they did in our lives and the small memories they have left behind. I miss Hanny but hope that even this little entry will help her to continue to live on in my life and in the lives of those who knew her.
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3 comments:
Mis,
Hard to believe it's been 4 years ago now since Hanny died. I enjoyed the memories your blog recorded.
Do you remember her bear drinking bird stories(Hansel might have been its name) and how she taught it to curse. Or what about that time we took Cori in to visit her and when Cori spoke German Hanny was like, "What?" (in what was probably the clearest English I ever heard her speak).
My earliest memory is of that framed picture of the graduate on the wall over her table. That goes way back to when she used to give us each a dollar everytime we visited. Of course there was the vibrating chair and the plum tree and she was a huge Elway fan. The Drumstick Cafe, lots and lots of magazines and of course the Christmas Eve service at PEPC when she kept saying, "Look at that little shit," referring to the baby in the row in front of us.
Hanny used to play basketball with me, and she was a classic example of stubborn German. She even refused to listen to the doctors that told us she wouldn't live through the night when she first came down with phemonia. Remember that little song box she had in the shape of a golden heart? Or the horsy rides she used to give? I owe it to Hanny that I am not ticklish on my feet.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane Missy. Dad is right, God threw away the mold when He made Hanny.
missy joy-
randy directed me to your blog and i'm pretty stoked to get a small glimpse into your thoughts and ponderings.
i totally teared up reading about Hanny, and reminisced about the time y'all took me with you to visit her and i tried to speak German, but she had no clue what i was saying. good times.
thanks for sharing...
cori lee
How fun to see how you both remembered Hanny.....and thank heavens, Randy wasn't scarred by that picture on the wall!! So many many precious memories, and don't forget about her cat Heidi and those aweful blankets Heidi had to wear! :( Hanny was nothing short of special!!
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