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| Kat, Burrito and Gram, 2003 |
My last, living grandmother passed away early this morning after years of suffering the effects of Alzheimer's disease. Gram knew Christ as her personal savior so we rejoice in knowing where she is today!
Gram has not been able to attend her church for about ten years now. Since then, the church has had a few new pastors - none of which know Gram or her life. Because of that, my Dad asked all of us grandkids to tell a few things that will give the pastor a good feel of who she was to us.
So, here are a few of the memories that immediately came to my mind...
She always made me believe I was pretty - backed by the fact that she liked to have my portrait made. And, she called me Princess - from as early as I can remember right up through as long as she knew me.
She was a nurse. I always thought it was cool that my grandma worked in our family doctor's office and was there when I went for appointments. Didn't everyone's grandma do that and give them pretzel sticks before they left???
She was always agreeable to a sleepover for all five of us grandkids – all of us at once! She was usually the one to ask us, but I also don't ever remember her saying "no" if we asked.
She never cared what we did in the basement - from roller skating, to laying on our tummies to slide into our "secret clubhouse" under the basement stairs, to playing dress up with the clothes (including nurses uniforms) stored down there. She didn't fuss at us when we would swing around the poles - even though it made a horrible noise for anyone upstairs to hear. (Okay, so maybe she would fuss after hours of that noise.)
She always had money ready for us to walk to the icecream stand for icecream cones.
She loved dogs - I can't ever remember a time that she didn't have one. Cocker Spaniels, in particular.
She loved to tell stories about growing up in Alabama and her family. Even though we suspect some of the stories might possibly have been ever so slightly exaggerated. But just slightly, of course.
She loved gospel music and singing. She sang in church in her growing up years. I think she regretted the surgery that messed up her singing voice.
We always spent Christmas Eve at her house and even though she wasn't a baker, she always had a huge tray of Christmas cookies that she'd purchased from a local bakery - I always thought that was so "fancy."
During a sleepover with all five of us grandkids, she'd ask if we wanted to go out to eat. Of course, we'd say "yes!" - and then she'd have Grandad take us to McDonald's or Wendy's with instructions to bring something back for her. In hindsight - that was one smart cookie to get us all out of her house like that! Ha!
I don't ever remember Grandma telling us "no" when we asked for anything, including money. Probably to her detriment.
Grandma loved greeting cards - the bigger, fancier and sappier the better. To this day, I can't see a card that says, "What is a Grandmother" or "What is a Granddaughter" or "What is a [fill in the blank]" without thinking of her with a chuckle.
She liked to get her nails done and always wore bright polish. I never recall her wearing pastel colors - always a red or coral - dark mauves were about as neutral as it got. As a little girl, those colors always seemed to be slightly "scandalous" for a grandmother to wear. Maybe it's through her that I came by my love of a good, regular manicure!
I was quite an older child before I realized that Gram's red hair was not her natural color. Before I understood "color from a bottle," it worried me that my hair would turn that color, too, because she once told me, "I wasn't born with this hair color" which translated to me that it had just spontaneously changed one day!
Fond memories!
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| Me and Gram, Summer 2005 |
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| Me, Dad and Gram, Christmas 2005 |
