My Grammy

Me with my Grammy

This week marked a special anniversary. If my great-grandma (known to me as "Grammy") was still alive, she would have turned 100 years old this week. Instead, the Lord chose to take her to her "home" at the age of 93 years old. As I turn my thoughts to my Grammy this week I have happy memories to reminise on and yet I'm a little saddened as I ponder how my life's events and experiences would have been different and even more special, had my precious Grammy been here to live life with me over the past 7 years.

My Grammy was an absolutely amazing woman, I loved being with her. She was the most amazing cook I've ever met, she had so much energy (proven by her teaching water aerobics until she was 87 years old!), and had so much life. She wasn't afraid to stand out from the crowd and be herself, all of her clothes were unique and typically bright and wild, her earrings were big and fun, she had so much personality and life. She never sugar-coated anything, she said what she felt and I loved that about her. She loved the Lord with her whole heart, her heart was genuine and she let you in to live life with her. She had experienced a lot of hard times in her lifetime, but was a strong woman because of it. I love my Grammy.

This is my family, brother Brett, Grammy, mom, dad, Gramma GinaLee and brother Blake.

On a family vacation to Sea World, this is me with my Grammy!

I had the precious gift of spending 18 years of my life with my great-grandma. I know that is almost unheard of these days, and yet I can't help but selfishly wish I had been able to have 18 more! She lived with my Grandma (her daughter) in western KS for many many years and the drive for my family to visit them was 5 hours. So we didn't get see them but maybe a couple times a year, but I have precious memories of Christmas' spent there with all of my Grammy's homemade Christmas candies and fudge lining the counter!

My Grammy was a fireball and I absolutely love it when my mom and grandma talk about how much of Grammy they see in me. There are so many questions I have for her that I never even thought to ask as a self-absorbed teenager. So many cooking tips that I long to have her teach me. So much advice about the hard times in life and good. Oh how I wish she would have been able to meet my amazing husband. She would have loved him! I wish she could have been at my wedding, come to visit me in Springfield with my Grandma last year. I wish I could cook for her, I can just hear her now while in mid-bite "oh my, this is just delicious, oh well I think this is the best ____ I've ever eaten..." :)

My Grammy and Gramma GinaLee

See the picture above of my Grammy with my grandma. I wish when I talked to this picture, my Grammy would talk back. What was her life like in this picture? Did she struggle with gaining weight in her thighs like I do? Did she wonder how they were going to make it financially? Did she cook just a regular old supper every night? Did she love fun clothes and jewelry? Did she have the money to buy them? Did she struggle making her hair look good each day? Did she feel beautiful? Was she stressed? Did she have friends who loved her? Did she struggle with acne? Did she have a house? Did she feel pressure to fill it with new furniture and decor clean it daily? Was she confident even then? Did her hair, clothes and home exude she her own "style" even then? or did she conform to the pressures of the society around her? Was it hard raising her first child? Was it hard for her to get pregnant? How many kids did she plan on having? I wonder how old she was in the picture? If I'm so much like her now, I wonder if we struggle with the same things at the same ages in life, I wonder if the same parts of "home" make us feel warm and fuzzy.

Some of my family at my Grammy's 90th Birthday Celebration

The last big family celebration we had with my Grammy was at her 90th birthday, both of my Grammy's kids and all of their families came to western KS for a huge party! I wonder what her 100th birthday would have been like. With Grammy organizing it, it would have no doubt been quite the event!!!

I miss my Grammy so much, but am so thankful for the 18 years I got to spend with her and so thankful that her daughter my amazing Gramma Ginalee is now in the same town I am living in, and I'm not holding back my questions from her! I'm so blessed and thankful for the family God gave to me, and for a Grammy that loved me so much!

I miss you Grammy!! Don't worry, I'll keep finding my own funky style, and keep cooking up a storm and show you all the recipes I've learned when I get to heaven!