The cold weather has me inside writing a lot. This is a Saturday afternoon short story, “Grandma Pat Party Mix Memories.”

Grandma Pat Thayer was the purveyor of party mix in our lives. This usually happened for Thanksgiving. But really, it’s a zesty, savory, sweet recipe for any day.
Grandma would make meals, but she was not a homespun person with a buttery soft heart, but love us she did. She worked at a hospital and earned her career there with a lifetime of sacrifice and hard work. A life that started up north dragging a sack around as a child harvesting potatoes.
Grandma Pat lived in Osceola, Neb. in a big, white house on a hill. She kept the house spic and span. It was not updated every year with the finest and latest furnishings. Everything in it had been earned.
Her cleanliness and superior orderliness was a testament to her life as a military wife and her career at the hospital, a nurse aide who gave care in a pragmatic, no-nonsense, compassionate way. She loved working. She loved the people and the freedom that came with a career.
Grandma Pat married Harold “Pink” Thayer, a great, dear man I never met who was in the military. Grandma told stories clear from France to the U.S.A. We ate Kraft Mac and Cheese and hot dogs wrapped in white bread and listened to those stories. She listened to us too. I stuck around the longest when adults were talking and soaked up every word.
Grandma read the newspaper every day. She read a lot in fact. She knew where battles had taken place. She talked about Patton and Churchill. She loved Pink so much and his brother Uncle Jim Thayer. Jim was a physician in Sidney, Neb. and a musician who wrote music for performances in Ogallala, Neb. at Front Street. They are still doing performances there. Everyone should go and watch cowboys, western girls, and fake shoot-outs with the family at least once.
I loved going to visit Uncle Jim and Aunt Lois. I fell in love with them. Such handsome people with handsome children. I think their son, also a doctor, was my first crush. They had a hot tub and beautiful trees they planted up and down a hill next to their lovely home. Uncle Jim took us on walks through the trees. I just adored time with such a loving man who had seen so much in his military service too. They also had the cutest bulldog who sat and watched us on top of the stairs. Just a squishy, solid guy.
Uncle Jim’s daughter Linda got married in Vail, Colo. That wedding made a big impression on me. Everyone around had a fur coat. Even at the McDonald’s in town, the only place we went out to eat there with the family. I will not forget the image of the woman ordering a burger and fries in a floor length fur coat. I believe it was rabbit fur. She had high heels too. I was like, “Wow.”
Driving through ski towns I wanted to wear the stylish, neon ski outfits with bright pink ski glasses. The mountains were just cool and so were the people. Skiing was always my favorite vacation at Winter Park and even a Christmas at Silver Creek. I loved the independence and speed. I wanted to be in the lodge with the attractive skiers drinking fancy drinks.
Back to Grandma Pat’s kitchen. She was so smart. I learned quick wit from Grandma and the word “shit.” I also learned generosity. One of her many talents was sewing. She made beautiful dresses for herself, pajamas for all her grandkids at Christmas, and probably at least 1,000 articles of clothing and warm hats for orphans. I marveled at that.
We would stay at least a week every summer. The only time I got to swim at a town pool. I would swim every hour I could. I would be one of like two kids swimming even when it was 65 degrees out and starting to rain. I knew this was my chance. I watched the sky for lightening. No lightening was fair game. I swam like a fish. I never had lessons. Grandma was an avid swimmer and basically threw me in and watched carefully as I figured it out.
I was on my own there at the pool for the most part. Grandma knew the lifeguards and there was trust. I had my goggles, bear beach towel, and her phone number memorized: (402) 747-6431. I believe that was it.
After swimming it was licorice, iced animals cookies, and orange pop. The night went fast because we were tuckered out. Grandma would drink one no label white can with black letters, BEER, on ice and watched the 10/11 News and M.A.S.H.
Grandma Pat and my Grandma Ruth Heine became very good friends after my dad and stepmom married. They even traveled to Disney World without us one time. I was like, “What?” But now I am like, “I get it.” Grandma Pat even knew my Grandma Laura Tonniges, my birth mother Lorraine’s mom, after she moved to her Osceola apartment.
There was a lot of love there that absorbed some of the challenges of our formative years. Grandma Pat and I had birthdays in October. So, we would share a cake. My favorite year was the purple cat cake. It was always Halloween themed. The purple cat was brilliant on the tinfoil covered cookie sheet. I am sure my lips were grape colored from the frosting for a few days, along with the grape pop.
Yes, Grandma Pat, she was matter-of-fact. There were military memories, the swimming pool, and stories. Stories told by an incredible woman who taught me to never stop learning, work hard, make party mix, and live life.
Copyright© 2025 All Rights Reserved, Kerry Hoffschneider
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