better a bit at a time

[mrissa]

The cold stuff has eased off considerably, with only a few deep coughs and a bit of snozzliness in a given hour. This may be due to cold meds finally being enough to hold it at bay; we'll see. Anyway, today I'm mostly left with much dizziness (lots of blue sparkly dots, wheee!) and a rather uncalled-for degree of weariness. I can deal with that, sort of. By taking it easy and reading a lot and snuggling the beastlet, who is helping me type.

My voice is barely starting to reappear. I have a tiny thready I-am-5-years-old sort of voice, which is not at all the sort of voice I actually had at 5. Somewhere around that age, I was in a fundraiser bridal fashion show for my grandmother's church -- I wore flower girl dresses -- and several old family friends permanently have an impression of me as the bitty little blonde girl who calmly but firmly corrected the pastor/MC when he called me Melissa. I never really went through a soft-spoken phase, except the ones like these that are virally induced.

(ETA: I am corrected. The MC was not the pastor, and there was no fund-raising, just a bridal fashion show for the fun of people who liked that sort of thing. So now you know.)

I continue to feel like rereading things, but since I have a long mental list of stuff I've meant to reread, that's not a problem. Unlike most of my lists, though, it's only a mental list, so I will be winging it again in just a minute here. Despite missing the Dreamhaven reading for Dr. Mike's birthday/memorial (sigh), I don't really feel like it's time for one of his, so...well. We'll see what comes up, when I look around downstairs.

Comments

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're feeling better and sorry that I only got to meet you briefly just before you got sick. (Not my fault! You getting sick I mean.)

MKK

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Totally not your fault. I don't know how good your voice-memory is, but I'll bet if it's really good you'll be able to hear the difference next time we're at the same con, because I was already sliding illwards when I met you.

Same here - child voices

[suzanne.livejournal.com]

There were times when I could be very quiet, but not when I felt safe. I quite firmly corrected my teachers when they tried to call me Susan. The family tale about it though was this one from when I was 4.

Me: Ganny?
Gradmother- chats with co-workers.
me: Ganny!
Grandmother - chats with co-workers.
me: TIDA MAE CHRISLEY!

(everyone stops and stares. Apparently I was standing with my hands on my hips and glaring quite sternly for a four-year-old.)

me: May I have ice-keam now lease?

Re: Same here - child voices

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

My heavens, you really are from the south.

Re: Same here - child voices

[suzanne.livejournal.com]

My heavens, you really are from the south.

*tilts head* *re-reads* Oh, my grandmother's name? Or the relentless politeness?

Re: Same here - child voices

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Oh, we're pretty relentlessly polite here, too. So yes, your grandmother's name. And the idea that you were permitted to call her Ganny. Most northern children who can't say "gr" are saying "gamma" instead.

When I was veryvery small, I called my grandmother Dramma. She worked with me one whole vacation on it: "Rissy, say grr." "GRRRRR!" "Say Grrrramma." "Grrrr--Dramma. [giggles]" By the end of the vacation -- I am told I was 15 months old -- I was calling her Gramma pretty consistently, and then she wanted me to switch back and I wouldn't.

Re: Same here - child voices

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I have another story from shortly thereafter. I was up here staying with my grands, and we were going to meet up with my folks at my great-grandmother's in Sioux Falls. Grandma had promised me a Dairy Queen, but the afternoon wore on, and we hadn't gotten to it by the time we had to start driving. We got to a restaurant down in Belle Plaine to stop for dinner, and there was a DQ across the street, but Grandma turned me so I wouldn't see as we went in. Had dinner, ate my dinner like a good kid, etc. And Grandma forgot to turn me away as we left.

I looked up at her and said in a sorrowful voice, "Oh, Grandma, you screwed up."

She still loves that story.

Re: Same here - child voices

[suzanne.livejournal.com]

I looked up at her and said in a sorrowful voice, "Oh, Grandma, you screwed up."

*chuckles* I don't have any more ice-cream stories. But...

When I was four-five my favorite thing in the world were donut holes. Mom and Granny had gotten me a little bag of them and I was eating them (slowly) in the backseat. Granny twisted around and asked if she could have one. I said no. She then said, "Don't you love me anymore?"

I peered at her a moment. Looked at the donut hole. Sighed. Took a bite of it and handed it to her. "Yes, Granny I love you."

After they finished laughing, they tried to fuss at me, but I still think that technically counted as sharing.

Re: Same here - child voices

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Not my part of the North - I called mine Mom-mom and Pop-pop until they old me I was old enough to switch to Grandmom and Grandpop (only we pronounced it Grammom and Grampop).

For some reason,, cards from my husband's paternal grandparents are generally signed "Grammy and Pops" even though he's never actually called them that. When I first mem them, she introduced herself with "Hi! I'm Gramma!" (Given how hard it often is to figure out what to call your spouse's grandparents, I appreciated that.)

Re: Same here - child voices

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Is it often hard? Oh. I was so head over heels for Grandpa and Grandma Lyzenga from the first time I met them that there was no question that they were Grandpa and Grandma -- it was just convenient that markgritter had provided me with some grandparents who clearly belonged to me, because otherwise we'd have had to arrange for me to get them some other way. And then the precedent was clear and I was referring to the Gritter grands as "Grandma Gritter" and "Grandpa Gritter" before I'd even met them.

As for my grands, my grandma has my friends call her grandma, if they ask. So.