My Grandma Rose was a very loving, but formidable, woman. If you have read some of the other blog posts, you’ll know that she was my maternal grandmother that lived directly across the road from me growing up.
I have many wonderful memories of Grandma, as well as some very interesting ones. Grandma taught me many life lessons over the years, as well as handing down a love of gardening and plants.
Grandma passed away a handful of years ago. I miss her love, her candor, and just the way she took life on with a determination to do what she wanted, when she wanted, and how she wanted to do it.
Grandma Rose was always in your corner, but you didn’t want to necessarily cross paths with her.
One year, I forgot this very important lesson.
Cousin Campout
When I was in elementary/middle school, we had a family tradition of holding an annual Cousin Campout.
Basically, the cousins from my mom’s side of the family would spend a couple of days camping each year at either our house or one of the Aunt’s and Uncle’s houses. There were anywhere from 8-10 kids in any given year.
One of the year’s when the shindig was at my house, I clearly remember one of my cousins coming up with the idea to pull a prank on Grandma.
I was around 8 at the time, however I should have known better.
I don’t know what I was thinking.
It Was Candy’s Idea…
We had a lot of fun at Cousin Campout’s. There was usually a t-shirt decorating activity, sometimes a scavenger hunt, as well as a bonfire with smore’s.
The year that I’m writing about, my cousin Candy had the brilliant idea to TP Grandma.
Some of the older cousins who could drive took me with them on a car ride and we ended up at Meijer buying toilet paper.
Now, if you’ve ever went to the store, late at night on a weekend, dressed in black and buying solely toilet paper, you will know that this generates some knowing looks and smiles from the employees.
The cashier gave Candy her change, along with our bag of toilet paper, and told us good luck.
“Thanks. We’re going to need it,” Candy replied.
This is one of those times in the night I should have rethought going along with this idea, but I was much younger than my older cousins and just happy to be included.
This also begs the question, what was Mom thinking to let me go to the store late at night with Candy anyway?
I didn’t know then, but the adults were on to us.
Getting Caught
I have to stop the story here for a moment and just say that my mom’s side of the family was the ‘humorous’ side. You just never knew what you were going to get into when visiting aunts and uncles from the Carlson side. (This is not to say that I don’t love my Dad’s family. They were just a little more ‘rule-following’ then Mom’s relatives.)
I am saying this because I know for certain that at least two of my mom’s sisters had spent time TPing houses in their youth (and quite possibly into their early 20s). This idea of Candy’s was not a novel idea. It was almost like a tradition that had been handed down from the previous generation.
I imagine, knowing what I know now, some of my aunts were probably proudly sitting at home while we were at the store buying toilet paper, discussing whether or not we were going to be able to pull it off.
When we got back home with our purchase, we hid the TP in one of the tents until we could gather whoever could be trusted and wait for the right time to go across the road and start the mission.
I only remember a few of us being brave enough to escape the tents and walk the short distance to Grandma’s front yard. Honestly, I’m completely surprised that I was part of the group. I was a rule follower to my very core. I still am. I’m going to blame peer pressure with entangling me in this mess.
Letting those first toilet paper rolls fly in the dark is quite the experience. You are trying to be quiet, but the rolls hit the ground with a ‘thunk’ that is louder than you would think. You then go and grab the rest of the roll and let if fly again.
There’s an art to it. Some are better at it than others. (It didn’t seem to be Candy’s first rodeo).
We didn’t get that many rolls off when a light turned on down the road. Directly in the middle of the road. Almost as if it was a car with one headlight. This was not good.
Now, I live out in the country. I do have a neighbor living directly to the east of us, but besides that, Grandma’s house was the only place within sight.
After seeing the light shining down the road, the three or four of us immediately hid behind the closest tree/bush we could find.
I peaked around the large Oak tree where I was hiding with Candy. (I loved that tree. It was directly near the road and had a tire swing hanging from it where I spent hours swinging at Grandma’s house.)
As I looked down towards my driveway, I could see this bright spot light swinging back and forth.
Here comes Grandma.
“Candy!” she yelled.
Candy leaned over and whispered to me, “How does she know it’s me?”
“You come out here right this minute! Right now!”
The four of us silently materialized with our heads hanging down and fear in our eyes.
“Start picking this toilet paper up and then get back across the road! Look at my beautiful trees. They are a mess!”
We gathered the small amount of toilet paper up that we had been able to let fly before getting caught and then hurried back to our tents.
While doing so, we received an ear full about disrespect for the yard, wasting good money from the toilet paper, and acting like Hooligans.
It was just the first round we would hear. We all knew there would be more to come.
Lessons Learned
Being the youngest of the rebels, I escaped most of the punishment.
Grandma’s frustration was mostly connected to the wastefulness of the toilet paper, along with the ‘decorating’ of her beloved trees. The rule breaking was not as big of an issue since Grandma herself was a champion rule-breaker.
I miss Grandma’s spunk and her straight-forward personality.
If I was a betting person, I am guessing that after the mess was cleaned up that night, and Grandma was all snuggled in her bed, she had a good laugh.
Goals for Today:
- Organize the Cup Cupboard
- Clean the Laundry Room
- Spend Time Making Pinterest Pins to Drive Traffic to Blog (I’m trying.)