My Grandma

In what seemed like a short four months after my Grandpa passed away, my Grandma joined him in heaven.  We picture them dancing together again, gliding effortlessly across the dance floor as I had seen them do so many times.  While we were sad to lose Grandma so quickly, this is the way we had always pictured it would happen.  He took care of her.  They were married for 61 years and inseparable.  As my friend Elaine called it "a true love story".  She was lonely without him.  We are sad to lose her, but happy they are together again and thankful for the many memories we have of them both.  We knew that Christmas was going to be different this year without Grandpa, but didn't expect to spend it without Grandma as well. I'm glad I was able to spend some time with her in the hospital and to tell her that I love her before she passed.  I got to see her on a really good day, which was nice to see her laugh and smile and look like my Grandma again.  Rylie also got to give her hugs and tell her she loves her too.  Even in the hospital, she brightened Grandma's day. 

So again, I would like to record some of my memories of Grandma growing up. They're all very random things and some very small details, but it made her my Grandma.  She always played with us.  Whether we were doing puzzles or playing ball in the back yard, she was always willing.  We played many rounds of croquet.  Any time my cousins from Colorado came to town, out came the cardboard house.  I remember her giving us baths and lathering on the pink Johnson & Johnson baby lotion that smelled so good.  She would wrap us up in a big towel and snuggle with us.  When we would stay over for a night or weekend, we always had "candle light" dinners.  Which meant we just lit a big pillar candle in the middle of the table.  And we could have been eating mac and cheese for all I remember, but we felt special either way.  She would take us for rides in the "beach car", which was an old brown car that was parked behind the house.  It's the car that we would actually take to the beach, hence the name, so we wouldn't get sand in Grandpa's Buick Riviera.  Anyway, she never actually drove us anywhere (Grandpa always did the driving), but we would sit in the car and she'd take her foot on and off the brake really quickly for a bumpy ride, which we loved. 

She loved to sew.  She had a special machine that would make little symbols and write words.  They made tennis towels for me with my name and a little blond tennis girl embroidered on them.  They attended my basketball games in middle school, tennis matches in high school.  They came to my graduation from my Master's program and out for drinks to celebrate.  They liked to fill up my car with gas when I'd come home from college and always offered me to come over or go out for dinner.

I'm so happy to have had them a part of my life for so many years, especially later on when I appreciated them so much more.  I'm happy they were able to know Rylie and what a special little girl she is.  She always put a smile of their faces as she does with everyone.  And now she knows that she has two special angels watching over her and keeping her safe.