Thursday, August 7, 2014

Goodbye Grandma

GRANDMA SENDS A MESSAGE
On the back of the funeral program Grandma wrote a message to all:
"To those I love, When I am gone you mustn't tie me down with your tears.  I gave you my love, you gave me happiness, I thank you for the love you have shown. So grieve for me awhile, it's only for awhile  and then when you must come this way alone I'll greet you with a smile and a "Welcome Home".

I had no idea one of her favorite songs was "Somewhere My Love".

JERROLYN'S talk
My grannie was one classy lady. She liked dressing up and looking nice. She loved wearing matching necklaces and clip on earrings. She loved lipstick and scarfs. She enjoyed getting her hair done and should have bought stock in Aqua Net since she most likely spent a small fortune on it over the years. . She was a lifelong devoted member of her faith. She loved coca cola, chocolate malts, reading Danielle Steel and listening to the LDS Tabernacle Choir. She loved her family and friends. She was the only person I knew that still had friends she stayed in contact with for over 70 plus years.

Grannie was very crafty and creative. She liked to crochet, sew and make things out of wood. I remember one time she helped me, my sister and my cousin Amy make hats. They had a Styrofoam block base with fake flowers, feathers, and birds attached. She glued on a chin strap and we danced and posed for pictures all day. She would also helpus make paper dolls. We cut pictures out of magazines and played with them until they fell apart. No matter how busy she was, us grandkids were always her main focus when we were with her. She never seemed stressed and tense when she was with us, she loved having us with her.

Grannie was honest with everyone she knew. She treated everyone with kindness and respect. I remember her giving me “permission” to tell “white lies” to people as long as it spared their feelings. She made it crystal clear that was the ONLY time lies could be told.I remember a trip to Clearfield when I was about 15. My dad had forbid us to watch MTV at HIS house, yet he never said anything about watching it at GRANNIES. Me, being the ever clever teenager, spent a few afternoons recording the latest Madonna and New Kids on the Block videos on her VCR.  When we returned to Boise, my dad caught me watching them, I told him grannie had let me record them. BIG MISTAKE!!! I got in trouble for watching the videos, but my dad was more angry that I had tried to blame grannie. I told him I was trying to spare him from getting mad. Obviously, that wasn’t exactly what she had meant. I learned from that!!!

Grannie taught me to admit when I am wrong and apologize. She told me to be forgiving and understanding of others. She taught me the importance of good etiquette like sending thank you notes and calling to RSVP when you were sent an invitation.

Grannie loved to send and receive mail. She always had stacks of blank cards on hand to send out for a holiday or someones birthday. She in turn, would always have stacks she received from others. When we were kids, she used to send us handmade cards all the time. Sometimes they would be decorated with stickers and hand written smiley faces. She would also send quotes or pictures that she had cut out of magazines that reminded her of us. She always made sure to send cards that encouraged us and congratulated us when we accomplished things. She sent Xmas cards every year, and I always had to make sure they were addressed, stamped and ready to go by Thanksgiving. I eventually insisted that she could not send them out before Dec 1st! Grannie was what I like to call a “paper pack rat.” She saved newspaper articles, recipes, poems, and especially letters and drawings from her grandkids. She and I were even penpals during most of my high school and college years. I know she saved many of those letters I sent, and I saved lots from her.  When my husband and kids ask where I learned to be such a pack rat, I blame Grannie but I don’t think she minds.


My brother and sister and I would always tease grannie because she had the best hearing of anyone we knew. When we would stay with her, Jamee and I would practically mouth words to each other in bed, under the covers and across the hall from her and she would still hear us!! To this day, if I ever say anything I know I probably shouldn’t, I am always quick to tell my self to stop because grannie can hear me!!

Grannie wore hair nets and scarfs to bed for as long as I can remember. Sometimes, she would tie her scarf around her head and prance around, laughing, calling herself the Queen of Sheba!! She was not a vain woman, but she NEVER left the house without her hair combed. We all learned how to comb her hair to her liking, even Dad and Jerrod.

I loved visiting grannie in her condo in Murray. She always had our favorite foods waiting for her grandkids. She ALWAYS had fresh cooked rolls and chocolate milk waiting for us.  Once I learned to drive, she would let me drive her brown Taurus and we would hit the town. We would go to the mall, maybe catch a movie or go to Hires for a malt. Afterwards, we would stay up and watch All my Children and General Hospital. She would record them during the day on old VHS tapes and we would fast forward through the commercials and the “unmentionables” that we didn’t want to see. If we were really feeling wild and crazy, she would make slushies with orange sherbert and Sunny Delight.  We would watch Murder She Wrote or Matlock and then snuggle in bed. We would fall asleep telling stories to each other. I would do anything to be able to live those days again.

I love that lady more than anything. I hope she will always be proud of me and my family. She may not have agreed with all the choices I have made, but I do know that she loved me for who I am.  I know that because she told me. Often.



No comments:

Post a Comment