“A child needs a grandparent, anybody’s grandparent, to grow a little more securely into an unfamiliar world.” (-Charles and Ann Morse)

My maternal grandparents were from Scotland. My grandmother, “Susan” McClafferty, was quite a character. She was a born teacher, and in Scotland, as a young woman in the early 1900’s, she taught small children in a Montessori-like method. She would always say to my siblings and me:

“Never forget your British heritage.”

At the time, I didn’t really know what the heck she meant, but I admit, there are few people in my life whose words had as much of an impact on me as hers did. Grandma was chock-full of all sorts of amusing aphorisms and pithy expressions. She was very proud of becoming an American citizen, but she was also very proud of her Scottish experience(Grandma and Grandpa McC, and Sue below)

My mother once told me that she had asked my grandfather what had attracted him to Susan when they were young, and he said he had liked her “because she always had something to say.” My mother always added, “and she never stopped saying it.” Grandma was a talker, and I suppose we all inherited that tendency. She was also interested in trying to instill in us a sense of elegance and gentility. I learned about tea parties and nice china and linens from Grandma, and she taught us to be creative and interested in art and poetry. (Grandma Susan and Mary Kate below)

It was Grandma who taught us, when we had our photo taken, to “remember to angle one foot forward, the way the French do; it elongates the leg.”

Who knows what she meant by some of her expressions, or where they came from, but to this day, if I’m standing and having my photo taken, I’ll smile, thinking to myself, “I should be pointing my toes, I guess.” I don’t always do it, but I always think of grandma telling me I should do it. She had a way of saying things that made you really listen and pay attention to her. (Sue, Claudia DEFINITELY NOT POINTING HER TOES, and Mary Kate below)

She had one expression that we all still laugh about and use to this day. She loved the notion of getting a good buy on something. If she succeeded in doing so, rather than saying something like “Who could pass that by?” she would always say:

“Who would go naked?”

I definitely use that one today and I think of Grandma every time I do. My whole family recognizes this one and we all still use it as well.

“Grandmothers are just antique little girls.” (-Unknown)