  my big gay life (40) summer, poppits and Grandma Today (July 11) is my grandmother's 94th birthday. She's quite a lady! She was a flapper girl in the 20's...frequenting speakeasies with her boyfriends back in the day...drinking bootleg and whooping it up on the dance floor. As a matter of fact, she was engaged to be married to some other chump when she met my grandfather, George. She saw him and quickly slipped off her engagement ring. Pretty sneaky, Gram. Anyway, she's a real hoot & my favorite person on the planet. I was lucky to have grown-up with her living in our house. She was a constant presence in my life from my earliest memory until she moved out when I was in 6th Grade. Summers were always special, and she would supervise the daily activities of both my sister and I, and several of the other neighborhood kids. Casey, Dane, Elkie, Libby and Chrissy were among the close friends who loved Grandma. She would keep an eye out as we played endless games of kickball, tag, statues, kick the can and bloody murder.
Libby, my across-the-street best friend spent many hours together. She and I would play other games, too...like "Little House on the Prairie. " She would be Laura and I always played Mary (snicker). Some things never change. My grandmother was also quite stealth in getting us to eat our lunches. Why is it kids never want to eat? As an adult, I have yet to pass-up a PB&J sandwich. How about you?
Well, back then, she would cut off all the crusts (naturally) and then dice the sandwich up into about 16 bite-sized pieces called "poppits. " I believe she coined this term and patented the process. In this way, sandwich-eating became fun. Perhaps not as much fun as pulling my glass away as she poured milk or juice into it. This was always my favorite prank...I don't remember her reacting with the same level of amusement. Now, at age 94, she's still as sharp as ever...but has more difficulty moving around in her normal spritely way.
Now it's my turn to make poppits for her...she likes her food in small, easy-to-consume bites...and I take to the task quite joyfully. You can be sure that I am keeping my wits about me as I am sure one of these days she's going to pull her glass away as I fill it with milk or juice. Happy Birthday, Grandma! 
