Grandma, We Love You Too: Remembering Grandma

It’s no secret that our grandma was a sweet lady, but us grandkids have the inside scoop on just how sweet she was. Just like us, Grandma enjoyed a little bit of sugar every now and then, so she always had rainbow sherbet & vanilla ice cream ready to go when she knew we were coming. We all absolutely loved her homemade grape juice, grape popsicles, and grape jam, we’ll be able to recall that taste forever.

Speaking of grape jam, there is absolutely nothing like her homemade jam on a slice of her fresh baked bread. Everyone within half a mile of Grandma’s house knew when fresh bread was being baked because you could smell the goodness in the air. Lots and lots of loaves were baked over the years. She was so patient with us as she taught us all of her bread-baking secrets. I’ll let you in on one of her secrets to good bread, and maybe even to a good marriage.. She always used to say that when she was mad at Grandpa she would bake bread because you can’t over-beat bread. She definitely had a sense of humor, that’s for sure.

She once told us that she tried hopping on one leg because she read in a magazine that it would keep her young & healthy. She ended up falling, so that was the end of that. Hopping apparently wasn’t the key to her long life, but maybe it was her grocery shopping habits. We can recall whenever we would go grocery shopping, she would sit there and read every single ingredient to make sure hydrogenated oil wasn’t in it, and if it was, she wouldn’t buy it. Grocery shopping may have taken longer, but after a healthy 92 years, maybe she’s proven she was on to something.

Another thing about our grandma that we remember fondly is how she was so unwasteful. When we were little, we were confused as to why she fed our “garbage”, aka table scraps, to the cats, but now we understand that she just didn’t let anything go to waste. Speaking of the cats, those farm cats were mean. Except to grandma. She would walk up to them while they were hissing, wait patiently for the right time, then scoop them up. Pretty soon you would hear them purring in her arms. It was like they could sense her kindness.

Kind. That’s the perfect word to describe our grandma. She was so very kind, always the first to extend a helping hand, and was always thinking of others. We remember being at Grandma & Grandpa’s house during planting or harvest season, and no matter what, even if it was storming, she would prepare lunches and take them out to the boys in the field. Sometimes she may have even been too kind. A story that everyone remembers best is the time Jarod spent the weekend at Grandma & Grandpa’s house. He was outside playing and Grandma decided to take care of his laundry. He came in to find that Grandma had patched up every single hole in his Buckle jeans, but little did she know, he had paid a lot of money for them to come that way.

One of Grandma’s favorite stories to tell, and one of our favorites to hear was the time Grandpa first asked her out after church at the ice cream social. She wasn’t so sure she would say yes since he was a little older than her, but he always seemed like such a nice young man, so she gave him a chance, and the rest is history. She would tell us about all the times they went dancing, their family road trips through the mountains, and their trips to Switzerland to reconnect with relatives.

Although she is gone, we will be reminded of her daily. We will be kept warm by her corn bags, comforted by remembering the sound of her whistling, and anytime ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ is on the television, we will be able to hear her laughing.

Our grandma made the world a better & brighter place, and if we all try to be even just a little bit more like her, I know we can add some kindness back into the world. If you want to start by cleaning up your language a bit, try some of Grandma’s infamous phrases:

If your child is acting out.. "he’s being a little rascal.”

If something doesn’t quite go your way…”oh for land’s sake!”

And if you spill on your shirt, as Grandma often did… don’t cuss, just say “I’m so disgusted.”

I can hear Grandma saying “Thank you so much for coming, I love you.”

Grandma, we love you too.