[Grandma Katie's wedding dress.]

What do you do when you visit Grandma Katie's house? Play dress up with her 1940s wedding dress, obviously! The unbelievable thing is that when she joined in the fun herself, she was able to fit perfectly into her wedding gown from 60+ years ago. (On the other hand, I, ahem, couldn't button it up completely. Let's not talk about it.) Kelly and I loved getting to flounce around in her fragile veil, and it was so special seeing our beaming 83 year old Grammy stand next to her 20ish year old self in her wedding photo.

I was reminded of these pictures as I talked to her today and she told me the story of how she and my Grandpa Pete became engaged, as well as other pearls of Grandma wisdom. I wish I had been able to write the whole conversation down, because there were so many hilarious and wise gems, but I did manage to capture a bit of it. Here's a mix of her entertaining and serious nuggets:

{On her husband criteria} "I wanted a tall boy, who didn’t smoke, or drink. … What more could I ask? All the other Mexican boys were shrimpy! Sometimes there are nice things, sometimes there are things that you have to overlook, but Grammy was not going to overlook the height!” [Ah, the source of Milan's penchant for tall boys and referring to herself in the third person is revealed!]

{On not being embraced by her future mother-in-law} “I had heard through the grapevine that his mother didn’t want him to marry me because I had been in the sanitarium for TB…but I didn’t even have TB, I just went there for the shot! Furthermore, I wasn’t a good Catholic. So I gave back the ring. And told him it wasn’t going to work, and that he needed to find a good Catholic girl. He thought, and thought, and thought…and then he gave me back the ring. 'My mother’s not marrying you,' he said. 'I am.' And that felt soo good. Standing up. That’s the thing that fortifies the feelings…the 'I want you, nothing else matters here.'" [Grandpa Pete...ballerr!!!]

{On spending time apart} "Too much togetherness is just like having too much sugar. Too much candy. Too much pan mexicano!" [Pan Mexicano = Mexican pastries or sweet bread.] 

{On her current dating life} "I have a dinner date tomorrow night. I hope Ralph doesn’t rain check. He says, “Could I have a raincheck?” I’ve had so much rain, there are storms! One month he had eight of them. Eight!!" [I HEAR you, sista!]

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Ah, Grammy....ever the classic. Funny to see how the times change, but whether you're 20 years old in the 1940s, 23 years old in 2011, or 83 years old in 2011, the daily struggles, hopes, and dreams of a girl remain the same.