Granny Got Kicked By The Back Door

Irene Banet Dreher

After Grandpa passed away in 1977, Granny was alone. So in 1978, my Mother, her daughter, moved her to West Virginia, to live in a trailer behind her house.

Granny was very happy living in her little home. She had plenty of room for just one person. And she was in the country. Someplace she enjoyed being. She would go out into the garden in the summer months and gather whatever she wanted from our garden. And during the winter months she would make quilts and crochet.

In 1985 my Mom and Dad sold their home to me, and they moved next door, and Granny remained behind my house. Shortly before I bought the property, Granny, who was known to have a temper now and then, evidently felt left out one day. We had all gathered at my house, not planning to, it just ended up that way. It was summer, and the kids were all outside playing. Mom and Dad were at my house, as was my sister and her family. We were all laughing and just enjoying each other's company.

We were all in the kitchen. I had a huge country kitchen that was over 30-feet long. On each end of the kitchen was a back door that led out to each side of the house. Well, Granny came storming in on one side. She attempted to slam the storm door, but the hydraulic closure kept it from slamming. She looked at all of us gathered around my big old farm table and began stomping like a little child and stomped across the kitchen, without ever saying a word, and out the other door. She attempted to slam that door as she went out as well. Well, the hydraulic closure on that particular door wasn't as tight as the other...so when she slammed it, it slammed all the way against the door facing, but then popped back open. And when it did, the door popped Granny on her backside!

Granny whirled around and gave us all a dirty look. "Mom is everything all right?", my Mother asked her.

"Hmph!" was her reply. And she continued on her way and went back to her trailer. Mom told us to just leave her be and she would check and see what was wrong later.

Well, as I said, Granny had thought we were having some kind of gathering and hadn't invited her. And so she was miffed. She didn't realize, until Mom explained to her, that we'd just all accidentally ended up visiting at the same time.

Still, it's been a long time running memory of the day Granny got kicked in the behind by the slamming door! She wasn't hurt at all. But if you could have seen her face when she thought one of us had done it, it was simply priceless!

Granny was born in 1906 in Indiana. She died in 1989 in Monroe County, WV. Mom made good on her promise to take her body back to Indiana and she is buried beside of Grandpa.

Do you have a funny story about someone losing their temper?