My Grandma Loves This

?? DEDICATION & THANK YOU ?? Dear tiny angels, slippery tadpoles, and sugar bears everywhere! When I was little (just about your age), I visited my grandparents in New Bedford, Massachusetts for summer vacations. Grandma always had fun lessons waiting for us “city kids.” She brushed our hair, ironed our underwear, and hung the laundry on the clothesline while holding clothespins in her mouth! My brothers and sisters would race through the yard, screaming and yelling, tripping and falling, climbing the cherry tree, and getting our new clothes muddy or dusty or torn. She cooked every meal we ate. No restaurants for us, no sir! We had no television. Grandma said, “Read a book! Write a poem! Let’s start a choir! Sing, children!” Then she would sit at her piano and lullaby us to sleep after a hard day of having fun! When she had spare time, she would say, “Run and hide!” This would end up being a fun game of PEEK-A-BOO...Grandma-style! Peek-a-boo was the most amazing, absolute best fun EVER for me! I dedicate my summer memories to Lucy Louise Green Barbour, my grandmother, my mentor, my cherry-pie-from-scratch baker! Now that I am a grandmother, I dedicate this book to Leah Renee, Lilah Gizelle, and Leslie Marie—my three granddaughters! “Run! Hide! Grandma’s coming!” Winifred “Oyoko” Loving St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands