My Desk: A History

I love my desk.  It is made out of wood (I'm not sure what kind). It is about four feet tall, with three deep drawers.  The top folds down to provide a work space, and folds up to hide how messy your work space has become.  There are four compartments inside.  Right now they hold a stapler, tape, a pencil sharpener, a tin with Disney princesses on the outside and pens on the inside, a calculator, scissors, a tide-to-go pen, my checkbook, paperclips, various bills to be paid, tons of post-it notes, half a pack of virginia slims, and a cabl...wait...

Yes, you read that correctly.  I have half a pack of virginia slim cigarettes in my desk.  And let me tell you why.

I inherited my desk from my Great Grannie Helen. The cigarettes were in the desk when she died and none of us have had the inclination to throw them away.  They just kind of belong there.

She was pretty awesome.  She is my dad's mom's mom.  She was born in 1920 in Yuba City, California. She was a single mom for a large chunk of time, no small task in the '40s and '50s. But I obviously did not know her then.

My memories of her are from much later in her life, especially after she moved to Utah.  She lived most of her life in the San Francisco bay area, so she never had to learn how to drive.  I would go with my Grannie or my mom to take her to get groceries.  Afterwards, we would go to The Olive Garden for soup, salad and breadsticks.  Inevitably we would end with a piece of lemon cake.  If you haven't tried it, you really should.  It is delicious, and I can never go to The Olive Garden or eat a piece of that cake with out thinking of her.

She liked to read.  We had that in common.  She read the paper every morning.

She liked nice things (we also had that in common)...cashmere sweaters, good china, fancy watches.  For some reason I remember her always having cool watches.

She liked things a certain way: she always bought Golden Toe socks, always smoked virginia slims, and almost always had a Vodka martini with olives before dinner.

I asked her once why she liked martinis so much.  She said she didn't like them, that they were disgusting.  So I asked her why she kept drinking them.  She said that it was just what people did.

She was big on thank you notes.  Sending thank you cards was important: it was what was polite, and it was what showed that you had class.  In fact, writing in general was a thing for her.  She always sent me birthday cards.  I didn't know this till recently, but she made a point of writing to my mom every time my dad was out of town (which was a lot).  She also kept journals.  The bad news about that is that she burned most of them before she died.

She smoked for most of her life, always virginia slims.  Even after she got sick and was told to quit by her doctors...and her family...she would bribe the handy-man to buy her virginia slims.

I used to think the smoking made her lips lopsided because she held her cigarettes on the right side of her mouth, and when she would smile, she smiled more with the right side than the left.  (I don't think that was it though; I noticed the other day that I do the same thing.)  She had a great smile.