Granny (Polly Shepherd) loved the Tigers baseball team. She never missed watching a televised game. Joe had some friends on the Tigers team and he tried to get tickets for her, but she couldn't get around very good and we decided there was just no way she could ever attend a game. Back then, as with most public places, Tiger Stadium was not very handicapped-friendly.
Another thing she wanted to do was go to Canada. So, one Sunday when Joe wasn't with us, Phyllis and I packed a picnic lunch and then picked up Granny and Aunt Dora. We wanted to surprise them so we told them we were going to a park for a picnic. We dared the kids to tell them where we were actually going.
When I got on the expressway, Granny...in the front seat with Phyllis and me, said, "Lordy, what park are we going to?"
The kids snickered...jumping up and down in their anxiety over keeping the secret, had Aunt Dora bickering at them to keep still.
Granny finally figured out where we were going, but not until I got in line to go through the tunnel to Windsor. She grumbled all the time we were in the tunnel, saying she hoped that wasn't the only way back. I told her it wasn't and we would not take the tunnel back home.
As I drove along the road by the river on the Canadian side, I pointed out the Ambassador Bridge and told her that's the way we would go home! She said absolutely not! At which, we all laughed and I explained the only three ways home were the tunnel, the bridge...or swimming.
We found a good parking spot by the river and near a playground for the kids and had our picnic. Granny and Aunt Dora just enjoyed looking at the river and watching the boats.
After a couple of hours, we were ready to leave. I took the bridge home, and, forgetting that Granny was scared of it, stopped near the center so Phyllis and I could get out and look at a sunken ship that was in the process of being rescued. Granny yelled at us and said "Get in this car right this minute and get me off this bridge!" Opps!
On Granny's 75th birthday, which was a Sunday, I planned a surprise for her. Mom and Dad and the kids came up for the weekend...which wasn't unusual so Granny didn't think anything about that. Granny and Aunt Dora went to both Sunday School and Church every Sunday morning. That Sunday, between Sunday School and Church, Granny's entire family marched into the church. Mom and Dad and kids, Troy and Susie and kids, Darvin and Shirley and kids, Lee and Syreda, Calvin, Phyllis and Suetta and me and my kids. Talk about a surprise! The look on Granny's face was priceless! Of course, Aunt Dora was surprised, too..I hadn't told her for fear she'd let the cat out of the bag...but she let Granny think she'd known it all along!
After church, we all gathered at Troy and Susie's for dinner and birthday cake and gifts...lots of gifts. Granny said she was 75 years old and it was her very first birthday party!
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