This will be a series of posts in which I honor my grandparents, both my blood ones and my love ones. All of my grandparents have departed from this life for the next one.. This is my way of remembering, honoring, and loving them. This first one is dedicated to my grandma F - my dad's mom.
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I remember
.....the candy tins. They were full of butter mints, jujyfruits, orange slices, licorice, butterscotches, gum drops, jelly beans, circus peanuts, tootsie rolls, good & plenty, candy corn, root beer barrels, caramel creams, and so many more. They sat in the same room, in the same place. There were at least six of them, maybe more, and they always held something different, something delicious. After greeting grandma, it was the next place we headed. I don't recall eating a lot of candy at home, but at grandma's, it was allowed, even encouraged. She had diabetes, so I don't think that any of it was for her. She intended it as a treat for her visitors. I don't know what ever became of those tins, but I wish that I had even one of them now.
.....rose milk. That was the name of the lotion that she always had in her bathroom. The whole area smelled like roses. She must have liked roses, because her yard had a lot of them. Sometimes, I can still smell that memory.
.....four leaf clovers. There was one section of her backyard that seemed to breed these elusive leaves. I would lay flat on the ground and methodically search through the grass, hoping to find another one. I had quite a collection of them before she had to leave that home. I just might have a four leaf clover tattoo some day in honor of her and this memory. (edit : I have a 4 leaf clover on the inside of my wrist under the word family.)
.....holiday dinners. People crowded into every room. Stories. Football games in the lower end of the yard. Laughter. Homemade lemonade. The gliders on her porch. A kitchen overflowing with food. Different lifestyles, different views, but all still family. Love.
.....photo albums. Grandma kept them all under her couch in the living room. When we went to visit, we would almost always end up pulling them all out. It didn't matter that we had looked at them hundreds of times. We looked at them again. It was our only glimpse of our grandfather. He left this world before I was born, but I knew him through those photographs and the accompanying stories. He was a good man - one who loved his God and his family, worked hard, was honorable. I'm blessed to have some of those very same pictures now in my photo albums.
.....Tiny. He was her chihuahua. He wasn't tiny either. He was a round, roly-poly, yippy dog. He was her companion. She loved him, and he loved her back.
.....so many things. I can still see her crocheting...drinking coffee...on my wedding day...in her garden...exactly how her house looked inside...the yard full of trees, and flowers, and bushes...the rag rugs she made that I still have...her on the porch waving goodbye as we backed down her steep driveway. I still miss you. I wish that you were here to see all of my children. I wish that I could say 'I love you'. One day, we will see each other again! Until then, I will cherish what I have...these memories.
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