My Grandmother Norma

Grandma Norma's incredible view

My precious Grandma Norma, (dad's mom) was born in Tarpon Springs, FL and has lived in either the house she started out in or lived in the house next to that for her entire life.  Her current house (the house she was raised in) is over 100 yrs old and still doing quite well. 

She is around 78 I think....seems older than that....but she's still kicking.

This summer my husband, daughter and I went down to visit her for a couple of days and I found out some very new information about her.  I didn't know that she was adopted.  I don't know if she ever found her birth mother or any other family members....she may not even be interested in knowing.  I know that her FATHER was a salesman.  He jumped from job to job, but seemed to be interested in selling lumber for construction purposes the most.  According to mom, he was a drunk, but I don't exactly know what consists as a drunk in her eyes.  Both her mom and dad believed that she shouldn't go to dances because they believed dances were of Satan.  They wouldn't allow her to play cards on Sunday because that was gambling, but they would play cards every night of the week.  This is about all I've gathered. 

My grandfather, Oscar, passed away when I was pretty little.....I'm assuming around 5 or so.  I was told that I was his light and joy.  They wanted to immediately come up and visit mom and dad when I was being born but my parents had convinced them to wait until they came home from the hospital so they could really help out at home and be able to hold me.  He was always holding me (as I've seen in pictures) and loved to play with me.  I wish I knew him better.  He was a boat builder....which is pretty funny cause our last name was Boatright.  People always want to put a 'w' in there...for Boatwright, how it was originally spelled at some point in history. 

What's funny is he hated to fish, hated to be out on the boat....it was boring to him.  But Grandma Norma LOVED being on the boat.  In fact, she was a commercial fisherman.  She would spend months at a time on the water with a neighbor friend (after Grandpa passed away), but they would come in for a time, wash clothes, fix and freeze more food, then go out for a long time again.  They mainly fished for grouper, a really ugly fish, but sometimes came in with some really interesting catches.  They've caught swordfish, sea turtles, sharks and all other manners of fish.  They would try and throw those odd ones back, but sometimes they were beyond saving.

Grandma also loved to be an artist on the side.  Always dabbling in oil paints of water, ships, crafts and wood working.  She's quite talented!  She still makes cute little Christmas crafts using sea shells, sand dollars and whatever else she can get her hands on.  She made me an elephant with seashells once....I still have that!

She still, to this day, will replace boards on her house, paint the house, you name it, she does it.  She's a tough old bird and she's smoked since she was a teen.  Go figure. 

Uncle Glenn and Mackenzie

My uncle Glenn, dads brother, lives with her now.  He has been in trouble with drinking.  Has been through 3 failed marriages, 2 of which were to the same woman.  His daughter is a "model" in Chicago and other areas.  The last picture I saw of her (on Facebook) was her in underwear and he's proud of her.  I don't know. 

About 10 years ago, my grandmother and I was sitting on her porch facing the bay and she told me that she always thought my parents, mom in particular, were always way to hard on me.  Wouldn't give me freedom.  She told them that several times also, but they felt they were right in their parenting skills.  I'll never forget that conversation, because it reinforced how I always felt about my childhood.  Now the question is, am I doing the same thing to Mackenzie?  I sure hope not!

I don't think my Grandma Norma will be with us too much longer.  She seems to think the same thing.  I'm glad we spent a couple of days with her so that she could see Mackenzie. 

She is definitely my favorite Grandma....all the neat boating stories, and all the life lessons she's learned amaze me to no end!

  

Mackenzie and Grandma Norma 

Uncle Glenn