Going To Grandma Gaddy's

I recall going to Grandma Gaddy's a few times for a big meal.  She had a step stool like this one and I so admired it.  Momma was kept extra busy keeping us out of her "things".  Hettie Mae had an old doll and we so wanted to play with it but I don't recall Grandma allowing it.  I remember going over to the store and Daddy buying us a soft drink.  Grandpa had a chest cooler with water in the bottom.  The drinks slid over to the exit. When you put in a  dime you could lift one drink out.   Daddy had to put in the dimes for us to have a treat.  If we had a candy bar, he had to pay.   I can't imagine Pop doing his grand girls that way.  Once when we went there for dinner, Aunt Helen brought this dish and I wanted to eat it all.  I think it was mandarin oranges and sour cream.  Oh, it was so rich and good.  I have tried to copy it but what I make is not like what Aunt Helen had that day.   Grandma mourned over Momma having that big brood.  Oh, I bet she even cried, but when she was in her 80's and I visited her in the nursing home, she told me that Hazel was the lucky one of her girls because she had all of us.  Our perspective changes often when we reach a milestone.  I asked Grandma that day if there was anything she wanted.  She said a Hershey candy bar.  I bought her one from the vending machine.  She could only eat a couple of squares.  She was just skin over bones.  On her stomach something protruded upward to a sharp point.   She said it was her womb.  In her 70's, after Grandpa passed she had no way to go to the grocery store.  If she had loved us more, I am sure we would have loved her more too.  Probably made sure she was cared for, but somehow it was hard to get by the memory of not being able to touch her things, not being able to play with the old wore out doll,  having to pay for a candy bar from the Gaddy store.