“If You Thought My Mama Could Cook!”

The story that I most remember about my grandmamma Gladys Dawson (1923-1998) focuses on the holidays. Whenever my mom wanted my grandma here, I would always have to get in the car with one of my friends and drive down to Thomaston, Georgia to pick grandmamma up. My grandmamma and her sister, Aunt Jenny, stayed together. I would always call her first before I went because she would know that she had to have my collard greens, my fried chicken, and my hot water cornbread ready. If you thought my mom could cook, my grandmamma knew how to throw it down in the kitchen! She would always save everything and make preserves. She made the best pear preserve! I would have to call and tell her not to let anyone eat my pear preserves before I got down there. When I got down there I would always clean up for her and make sure everything was straight. I would also go and get them Burger King because they loved Whoppers. I would bring the Whoppers back to them and I would eat the food she had prepared for me. Then we would get in the car and head back to Atlanta. Her and Aunt Jenny would be in the back seat gossiping and talking about people. I remember at the house she would sit and watch television, and she would talk to the television like the people could hear her. That’s how her and my mom would watch TV—they would lay up in the bed and talk to it.