In Remembrance of Her

May 24, 1918 to July 10, 2008

As I mentioned before, my grandmother suffered a massive stroke last week. Well, she passed away yesterday morning. She was 90 years old and had lived a very full life. The last week has been extremely difficult for all of us, but at least she’s at peace now.

As we’re getting ready to make the trip back for the funeral, I keep remembering things about her…and smiling to myself.

Here are some things I’ll never forget:

• She showed us how to make ‘little ladies’ out of Hollyhock blooms and toothpicks.

• She showed me how using a white nail pencil under my nails and clear fingernail polish made an awesome French manicure.

• Her old car had a turn signal that would make a loud, “CLICK-CLACK, CLICK-CLACK, CLICK-CLACK” noise, and she really was too short to reach the pedals without a pillow.

• She kept Keebler Club Crackers in the oven. They always tasted so buttery and warm.

• When I was little, I accidentally got locked in her bathroom, which, at the time, was all the way upstairs. No one could hear me calling, and I was trapped for what seemed like hours. She showed me how to stomp on the floor really loudly if it ever happened again.

• She’d let me sit at her dressing table and look at her brooches and smell her powder and perfume.

• Grandma had two names. She was one of five girls and was always her father’s tomboy, so she went by a boyish name to all of her sisters and childhood friends. Then, she had her “real” name. But, to us, she was always Grandma.

• She would go out of her way to cover her face when people were taking photos. Somehow she’d behave herself if the situation was professional (a wedding, etc.), but you could tell she didn’t want to. Over the last couple of years, my hubby got some really good photos of her when she was distracted by Claire.

Speaking of photos, when Claire was about 18-months old, Grandma found an old picture of my mom from when she was about a year old. The two pictures are nearly indistinguishable. Grandma got a real kick out of that. She had my sister make copies of the two pictures together and she sent them to me. Here they are:

Click to enlarge. Clicking again will show more detail.
Yes, this is a photo of a photo…my apologies.

Isn’t the resemblance uncanny?? I can only imagine the memories Grandma had of her own little girl (my mom) when she watched Claire play and grow.

Even though we lived hours and hours and miles and miles away, we’d see her in person or talk to her on the phone as often as we could. She was never want for a photo or a phone call, and I know that Claire will miss her.

I’m sure over the next week, I’ll remember even more about Grandma, but these are just the things off the top of my head. I’m just so glad that she’s at peace now and that she was able to experience a long, full life.