This morning I found out that my last living grandparent had passed away. I got a call right in the middle of church (how embarrassing - I didn't turn off my cell phone) It was my mom who had left a message for me to call her. I didn't even check the message until after I had come home. I was nursing Charlie and the thought came to me that it was probably about my Grandma. My mom is not usually one to call on a Sunday morning. She died in her sleep early this morning and it was really a blessing. I think that's the way I would want to go. She suffered from dementia and alzheimers, so although we are sad, we are happy that her suffering has ended. I'm sure there is great rejoicing in heaven today and I think she is mostly happy to be back with my grandpa again.
Here are my favorite Grandma memories:
I remember her always having red hair until one time we came to visit and it was grey. I almost didn't recognize her. She said she just stopped dying it. I was shocked because it never occurred to me that old people dyed their hair.
She loved to cook eggs in bacon grease or butter. yummmmmmmmm
She had a bunch of Hummel figurines stacked on her tv and she had a record player too.
When we'd go visit her as kids, right after we got there she would send us downstairs to get a soda or juice. For us this was quite a treat.
She always kept a candy jar in her dining room, which we helped ourselves to quite often.
She could never sit still and had to be reminded to sit down and quit working.
Finally, the last time we were able to see her was last Christmas. She was pretty coherent that day. She really opened up when she saw babies. My favorite comments from her that day:
She told Dan he had a nice neck and my mom started talking about Mr. Potato Head and she interrupted and said she didn't care. Too funny. The picture above was taken during this visit.
I'll miss my Grandma, but I'm glad she's back home with her Heavenly Father and my grandpa.
She was 88 years old. A good life lived.
