My Southern Grandma

Me and MiMi in her kitchen (probably in about 1988)

In the South, we rarely call our grandparents "Grandma" and "Grandpa".  My girls call their grandparents MiMi & PaPa and MeeMaw&PawPaw.  My grandma has been known as MiMi for the past thirty years, plus some.  This week we lost my MiMi to cancer.  It has been very sad for our family, but I have found myself coming to peace with it much faster than I expected to.  For one, she was very sick and no one wanted her to suffer or be in pain.  And secondly, because I have such a connection to her because of how much time I spent with her as a kid.  Because of all that time I got to spend with her cooking, I feel like some of the best parts of her live on in me.  I had a unique advantage of getting extra time with MiMi because we lived just a few minutes from her until I was 9.  During that time, my mom taught piano lessons after school and I got to spend that time learning how to cook things like homemade chicken and dumplins (not "dumplings" - MiMi said "dumplins") while MiMi prepared dinner.  She always found a way for me to help.  I find myself not being great about that with my own kids, but my mom has the same gift of always being able to find a way for my girls to be included in meal preparation - must be a grandma thing.   In the evenings, my dad would come by to pick me up on his way home and sometimes we would get to stay for dinner.  I would set the table and fill the glasses with ice for the iced tea and we would all sit down to dinner together.  My very favorite thing she made was fried chicken.  As an adult, I made a trip to see her just so she could show me how to take apart a whole fryer, bread it (always in a brown paper grocery sack), and fry it to crispy, juicy perfection. 
And so, as we all move on without her, I'm thankful that so many wonderful things about her are found in my mother and my aunt.  They too are incredibly strong Southern women who set such a wonderful example for the next generation of mothers in our family.  Watch for more postings about MiMi's recipes and stories of her cooking and entertaining like a true Southern Lady.