My grandma, Beverly Mills, born in 1925 in San Francisco, was a mother of four, a grandmother of seven, and a great grandmother of two (so far). She started her own print production company in San Mateo, CA that she ran for over twenty years, but this is just a sliver of her story. She was an entertainer at heart. She danced and sang for charities, performed in musicals and wrote comedy skits locally, and concocted elaborate themed parties for friends and family. It's even rumored that she tried to start her own party planning business called The WindMills (more on puns later), where they would put on big events and hire caterers. My grandma was always looking for the next opportunity to entertain.
A common thread through all of this, was my grandma's love for entertaining through words. She recorded her lively and entertaining life through poetry. She wrote thousands of poems over the years: to celebrate someone's birthday, to say thank you for someone treating her to dinner, to invite friends to a party, to make an observation about something peculiar, to accompany her gift to someone on Christmas, to demand a change to something, to ask for help, and even to thank a doctor for successfully completing her boob job in the 1960s. Poetry rolled off her tongue, and this book is a celebration of that. What ensues is a selection of my grandma's poems that will give you a glimpse into her adventurous life. More importantly, these are stories about the value of family and friends, the importance of gratitude for life's big and little moments, as well as the value of being present and observant. But please strap in. These stories often have an extra serving of spice for an added kick. My grandma, a lady filled with charisma and energy, and a streak of up-to-no-goodness, brings a unique perspective to all of her observations and writing. The poems are filled with plays on words and layered meanings (hope you enjoy puns). At times, the poems are slightly risque, and bounce right back to lighthearted and fun. My grandma's poems will make you chuckle, will stir up nostalgia for life in a different era, will make you think about your own loved ones, and will at times make you blush over the subject matter.
I spent a year sitting with my grandma sifting through her endless poetry, and listening to the stories behind each one. So each poem has a brief description to provide context, as each poem needs a "Rhyme and Reason". There is no chronological order to the poems - you will find a poem from the 1960s buried in the middle, and a poem from the 1990s in the beginning.
We hope you enjoy the poems (and puns), and that they inspire you to always see life with a wink and a smile.
