Updated going to grandma's house

 Going to Grandma’s house…in my mind.

My Grandma Pauline was a very special lady. At 82 she had seen a lot, yet she was always so young at heart. She was always ready to go, do, see, and enjoy. I remember November 2009 being a really rough month in her life. She was sick and we thought having a stroke. After a trip to the Emergency Room, it was determined she had a Glioblastoma, an incurable brain cancer…WHAT?? It still amazes me that my healthy little Gramma could be that sick, but then again after Millie’s battle, maybe nothing amazes me that much?

Grandma’s house was always clean, but always cluttered. She loves ’stuff’…old magazines she saved for ideas, clothes she bought for a good deal and had planned to remake to fit her, dishes, and household items. She must have owned 20 different sets of dishes, yet she could never pass up on buying a few more.

As you went into her meticulously neat living room to sit on her formal furniture you were greeted with her piano that we have gathered around and sang many a song with her. Tunes of “I dropped my dolly in the dirt”, “Happy Birthday”, and too many Christian hymns to recount. She inspired each of her grandchildren to want to play, even if we never learned any more than the dolly song.

Next, we would go into the kitchen where she was always ready to feed you. It did not really matter if you already ate, at Grandma’s house you would need something to snack on. She was a great cook; banana nut bread -without the nuts for my kids, of course- and grilled cheese sandwiches scraped back to light brown- which was the only thing I ever saw grandma burn. She enjoyed canning pears each year from the tree in the back yard. She loved making homemade pie crusts, wonderful potato salad, giblet gravy, and anything else she puts her mind to. She often tried to teach me cooking skills, but I never did master her pie crust.

Next to the kitchen was her den, this is where she really lived. Her sewing machine sat on a little homemade wooden table built by my Grandpa. Clothes hung in the doorway; the ironing board always ready to press a newly sewn hem flat. Her recliner had a small maple end table with her reading glasses, magazines, nail clippers, and some outdated (ie stinky!) lotion she keeps close by. In one corner you would find her desk with all her paperwork, her dining table with birthday cards ready to be sent, and her record player with records about whatever topic she hoped to learn next.

Grandma was a LEARNER. She was always on the lookout for schoolbooks at thrift stores. She loved to teach the grandkids to write. She was always working on learning a foreign language. When I was a little girl, she would make me ask for my snacks in Spanish hoping that I would learn the language.

Right off the den sat her back patio filled with old metal chairs that she had owned for every one of my then 35 years. They were rusty, paint peeling rockers that are made to last a lifetime. Out in the yard sat all her garden tools and her compost pile where she faithfully dumped her scraps hoping to improve her soil. She had a little shed built by grandpa to store all her fabric and other ’stuff’ in. Over in the corner of the yard is where her old pear tree that she harvested each year to can her special jalapeño pears.

Back in the house, Grandma had three bedrooms filled with fluffy beds, often covered with flannel quilts that she had pieced, eyelet lace trimmed pillowcases, and white bedspreads that no one would dare to sit on. She had clothes and shoes filling every closet and then some! In the back-corner bedroom, she kept my great Granny’s dolls as a reminder of her mother who had been gone for 13 years that fall.

Finally, her bathroom, decorated in seafoam green and peach always had the little decorative ’shell’ shaped soaps that you do not really use. The counter held all her makeup, combs, and prickly curlers that she rolled her beautiful silver hair with every Saturday night. If you looked closely you could probably find a few rag strips left over from rolling up one of her grand or great granddaughters’ hair. These simple rag strips produced the most beautiful ringlet curls.

I am pretty sure it is evident that I carry a fond spot for my Grandma and her house. She was such an inspiration of what a Titus 2 Woman should be. She encourages, prays, and teaches those around her. I She was a ladies Sunday School teacher who tried to make the gospel understandable to the ladies of her class. I remember attending church with her as a small child. The aisle to the front was long, covered in red carpet. One the alter table there was a little church house penny bank where you deposited your birthday offering money. That money was used to support the Baptist Children’s homes and the children who live there. Grandma always kept a yellow pack of Juicy Fruit or sometimes mint gum in her wallet. She would share a stick with me if I were quiet.

Two other fond memories I have is of Grandma never being too old to play with us… mudpies, camping in the yard, or teaching us to sew scraps were what she would do when her grandkids arrived. The last thing that makes me think of her is her laugh. She was a happy person. She laughed frequently. However, if you ever really got on grandma’s nerves or made her mad, she would laugh. I find in my older age when I am aggravated, I too laugh… and so does my mother and my aunt. We truly become our mothers (and grandmothers).

I thank the LORD that He blessed our family with every sweet moment with Grandma and every sweet memory we cherish. She has been gone over 10 years now. She never met Millie earthside, but I have no doubts they are in heaven together. If I know grandma, she has Millie on a piano bench teaching her to peck out a simple tune. (I don’t truly believe that is what we will be doing in heaven, but it brings a smile to my face to think of the possibility).

Proverbs 10:7 “The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.”

Grandma’s memory is a blessed one to me…

These rag rolls were on my three 'little girls' who are now teens. They are also wearing the nightgowns grandma made them. Cherished memories.