Grandma's

Grandma's have got to be the most taken for granted thing out there. A grandma is a gift. When you are young you have wonderful grandma times and grandma memories that you freely enjoy. But when you are older, you can only fondly remember the grandma times you had. And then.. you wish for them back. You wish for one more afternoon with them... one more memory.. one more moment. Because, maybe you never really had a chance to say good bye.. Even if you were there for the end.

I had two beautiful grandma's. My grandma Geneva was a fox. She was gorgeous. She wore fur coats and golfed. She was a lady elk. My grandma would make an elegant dinner and serve it with 3 forks, three spoons and linen napkins. She would wear a beautiful apron. Then she would ask you how you liked the meal. This was when you pulled out all your compliments. She loved to talk politics with my dad... I remember that they never agreed. But it was still a polite disagreement. She also wore hosiery with her shoes.... ALWAYS. When I was older, she would take my cousin and I to lunch in downtown Portland. We would order dessert.. but grandma would say, "No dessert for me! I still weigh 110 pounds!" Then we would all giggle. My grandma Geneva was an organist and pianist. She would love that I'm in a band. She loved to play. She liked Lawrence Welk. She was a true lady. I didn't really ever get to tell her good-bye, or thank you even. Before she died she had a small stroke type event that left her unable to care for herself and left her more child like. She knew who I was and was able to talk to me.. but I missed her old fiesty self.

My Grandma Marie was an organizer. She typed on a blue electric typewriter that she had at her job as a Dean's secretary at a college. When you received a letter from her, she often typed it, on this typewriter.. then carefully signed the bottom with a pretty pen. She never missed a birthday. EVER. Before she died, she gave me a box which contained every letter/card I'd ever sent her. She made scrapbook after scrapbook of her children and grandchildren's pictures. She typed a family newsletter for over 15 years that she sent out several times a year to all of us.. even after we married. I like to think that in heaven.. she's organizing something. Just an hour before she died.. I was able to be with her.. but she didn't know that I was there. She couldn't really communicate. So I didn't get to say good bye to her either...at least not in the way that I wanted.

So .. when I miss my grandma's ... I have to remember that.. I will see them again. And maybe.. I need to remind my kids.. that they won't have their grandma's forever either. And they need to cherish the gift of grandmas.