Remembering Grandma

I was reminded over the weekend that it's been exactly 40 years ago on Sunday that my Grandma Gertrude died.  She was my mom's mother and I was 13 years old.

She had breast cancer.  I remember how weak Grandma was after the cancer treatments that she fainted during church once.

My mom got into cancer victims and friends groups during that era of my life and I attended several with her.  It was later that the group decided to change their name to something more positive.  Cancer victors and friends.  The group met in the basement of a bank and was all about health and how to build up the strength you need for the cancer treatments that they did back then.  And foods on how to fight cancer holistically if you were opted to NOT do cancer treatments.  It mostly leaned towards that.

Did you know that there is arsenic in the little seed inside the pits of peaches and that it can fight the cancer cells?  It can also kill you if you eat too many...

Later, while in college and attending some of these with Mom, I saw my college freshmen Algebra teacher there.  His wife had cancer.  It was so weird seeing him outside of campus!

I remember that Grandma's sister came up from Arizona for the funeral and for a while afterwards, taking care of the family and my grandpa.  She looked and sounded SO much like Grandma, it was uncanny.  like Grandma never left.

Ruth Ann remembered a cookie jar that Grandma used to have snacks in ALL the time for the grandkids.  I can vaguely remember it, but not as well as she did.  She must have snacked a lot... ;)

She found a pic of it on Pinterest.

I remember helping Mom clean out the house afterwards since Grandpa was moving to the church parsonage now.  He was our pastor.  

Towards the last few years of her life, Grandma would buy a bag of sugar, thinking they were out.  When she got home, she'd see that she already had plenty and would hide the bag in the attic so Grandpa wouldn't see that her mind was slipping.  We found so many bags of petrified sugar up in that hot little attic!  

Also SO many stacks of plastic containers from yogurt or cottage cheese.

We also found old purses with tons of change in them.  So many were so old that they were truly worth something, so they were saved away a different way after that.  I guess people of that generation didn't trust banks.

There was an auction of all the belongings on the grounds surrounding the parsonage and church that Grandpa didn't need.  One sister remembers strangers pawing through the boxes like they were nothing.  Looking back now, I wish I'd have had money to bid on something to remember her by.

But I do have this.  I treasure it.

Cracking walnuts with Grandma.

That was me!

My brother bought their old house and is a great construction worker.  He can fix and remodel anything.  So anytime I want to revisit Grandma and Grandpa's place, I can go see him.  Of course, they didn't have a koi fish pond in the yard... 

And Mark filled in the little peanut shaped pond they had on the hill.  It was always filled with tadpoles and tiny frogs.  A regular biology class any time you wanted.  I can't tell you how many tadpoles I'd take home and watch them grow legs and mature.

And my house is surrounded by lilacs and peonies, just like Grandma and Grandpa's was.  Some days when the lilacs are in bloom and my yard is a little shaggy, I sit on the bench on the front porch and reminisce about days and loved ones gone by.

I guess it's going to be one of those days... 

Who do you think you're messing with?

I got a phone call yesterday from a scammer.  They were pretty convincing too, IF I had a grandson of college age...  AND who knew our home phone number...  

"Hi Grandma!  It's me!"

"I'm sorry, who is this?"

"It's ME Grandma! Don't you recognize my voice?"

*appealing to my doubtfulness that I might actually forget what my grandson sounds like*

*apparently I'm on the verge of senility*

me: "Who do you think you're trying to call?"

*click*  he hung up.

This exact same phone call happened to me about a year ago where I ended up hanging up on him.  However later that day a year ago, my MIL got the same call.  

"Hi Grandma!  It's me!"

"I'm sorry, who is this?"

"It's ME Grandma! Don't you recognize my voice?"

her: "Seth?!  Well hello!! How are you doing?!"

"Grandma, I'm in a lot of trouble and I don't want my parents to find out..."

here: "Why Seth?  I'm sure they'll understand, no matter what it is."

"Grandma, I'm in jail.  I need bail money and my parents will not understand."

her: "Of course they will.  I can call them for you."

"Grandma, no, don't do that!  I'm pretty ashamed of myself."

her: "Hang up and I'll call them right now.  It's going to be ok."

*click*

She told us about the call from Seth later on that day.  She was still convinced it was him and that he was in some trouble.

Now, if she'd fallen for it, she'd be out thousands of dollars as did a friend of a friend of mine.  Some people are pretty gullible...

Why are scammers focusing on grandparents?  Because I guess they're gullible and want to not make you feel unhappy that they don't remember you.  

Then there's my mom.  She has dementia anyway and when Robb was hugging her goodbye last weekend, she didn't see his face and she said, "Now who are you?"  sigh...  I'm not sure if she truly didn't know who he was or if she just saw the back of his head and couldn't figure it out.  But I'm willing to give her the benefit of a doubt.  

She's got over 40 grandchildren, *don't make me count it up* and she will NOT remember who they are by their voice.  So if she got a scam call like this, she'd quiz them until they told her their real name.  And chances are she has a grandson with that name anyway. :\  But then again, she's not going to send money to get a grandkid out of trouble without talking to their parents first.  

What kind of grandparents do you think we are??!

84 years of blessings

My mom is the second from the left in her family.  My god-father was third from the right.

But this is about Mom today!  Love those curls!

Growing up in a Christian family, as my grandpa was a Lutheran minister, was difficult at times, but when you hear Mom talk, it was the perfect life.  They sent her away (not the most perfect part) to teacher school for the price of a calf that the school just had to wait until it was born in order to get paid.  

But Mom taught in Nebraska and Colorado for a while before getting married to my dad.

Then along came the kids.  7... then later the eight through adoption.

And my mom was the ultimate career woman, being a wife, mother, teacher, missionary, everything.

Nothing slowed her down.

I'm the one on the far left with the staticky long hair my sister mocked me about.

Wish I still had that figure!

Meri is the baby here and Maddy in the blue shirt.  We went with Mom, my niece Bethy, and my youngest sister Jill, to see Grandma Wilma at the nursing home.

During the trip to Kristin's baby shower, our van had a flat tire and we almost didn't make it on time.

The Sam's Club guy pulled a steak knife out of our tire...  REALLY??!!!  Who throws a steak knife onto the highway?!

Mom is always in the hubbub of the family events.

My girls, especially, loved the one room schoolhouse that Mom and Dad bought when they retired.  The playground activity was to die for and the fallout shelter collected tadpoles in the flood waters.

Mom and Dad loved to remodel the houses they lived in, to the extent that the kitchen was in 4 different spots in our house during the time we lived on the acreage before they moved here.

And of course, they remodeled the heck out of that one room school house!

They, of course, would never miss a Thanksgiving if they could help it.  And Mom is SUCH a hard worker, always pitching in where she can.  

Unless there's a cute grandchild, or in this case Great grandchild around!  We drove with Mom and Dad out to Wisconsin for a wedding when Leon was a baby.  Isn't he a cutie?

A cutie-patooty!!?  Mom sure thinks so.

*help!*

Just before a wedding reception for a nephew, my sister orchestrated a surprise 80th birthday for Mom.  Wow, was SHE surprised?!  

Through the years she and Dad have been on many many adventures.  Although I think this is a baseball game, but some would still call it an adventure!  They've been to Africa too many times to remember for mission trips, helping build churches, parsonages, homes.  They've been on a couple exotic vacations and cruises with a sister and her family.  

She and another sister have played on my piano.

She and Dad have been through thick and thin together.

This is from a few years ago when we almost lost dad when he fell off a train.

AND this is a year ago last spring, when we almost lost Mom to cancer.

Just thinking about that and what may one day come, makes me tear up.

After Dad's broken back incident, Mom moved to a nursing home and has since, thrived there.  Dad lives with one of my sister's family now, but is there almost every day to see her.  Up until a few months ago, Mom played for music time and Dad was the DJ.  

My sisters and brother, who still live in town are fabulous!  They visit with Mom all the time and I'm so jealous!  Three hours away seemed like a good buffer when we were first married, now it seems like a hindrance.  But I love seeing pictures of Mom being the grandma and getting doted on.

This past year, we celebrated Mom and Dad's 60th anniversary.  Each one becomes more dear.

The pic below shows the whole clan except my youngest sister.

 The great grandchildren just keep popping up and Mom is loving it.

Her sign out sheet at the nursing home carries over for so many pages!  And some other residents only get taken out maybe once year.  Mom is an anomaly.

 Here are Mom and two of her remaining siblings and their spouses at our annual Thanksgiving meal.

Singing as they were brought up, like it was yesterday they were children themselves.

And Mom and Dad together for music time at Thanksgiving.

You know what I'm thankful for?

This woman...  I love you Mom!

Happy 84th Birthday!!!!

Senior Photo Shoot

 Meri wanted to get some pics of Grandma and Grandpa for a 4H entry, so she brought along my good camera and took several until the battery died, then pulled out her cell phone for the rest.  

We drove all over the state park near the home where I grew up.  I reminisced about driving my moped through this park on many occasions and even pointed out where the pistons had seized and I had to push it home from there.  Checking the oil is important.

Meri spied a good spot with benches not too far from the parking area.  Dad has had some health issues lately and we didn't want to overdo it for him.  The temp was in the 90s.  80s in the shade.

Grandma asked that Meri sing and I encouraged her too.  I guess she said I MADE her.  sigh...  

Oh well, she sang great.

These were just from my cell phone.  I can't wait to see the ones Meri took.

We drove up to the overlook and enjoyed scenery that I hadn't seen for so many years! 

 Neither had they.

They're so cute!

And Mom was so funny!  "NOW let's get some pics of you two!"  

Ummm  But, Mom... this is all about you guys today...

They don't call it a Senior Citizen shoot for nothing!

BUT,  Meri and I took a couple.  

 

We left them in the chilled car and Meri and I ran down the path that I'd told her about from my memories.  The fossils were gone but the overlook was still there.  Grown over a LOT more than I remembered.  Selfie again.

AND I took some selfies with my mom too.  

She is more of a selfless person than a selfie person... 

We dropped Mom off at the nursing home, then took Dad back to my sister's, where he's living now.

Hugged just about everyone and after picking up the obligatory Canadian bacon pizza for Robb, we hit the road for home.

When we weren't too far away, Meri wanted to drive and she drove me down some country roads in the Des Moines river valley, where the only real hills in Iowa are.  Beautiful landscape!!!  

She and a friend had found an old deer graveyard where deer carcasses come to die.  But it was really flooded and we didn't see anything.  I did see the remnants of a past bridge over the river.

So peaceful and pretty down there!

We got back early evening on Saturday and spent all day Sunday with Robb.  Well, I did. Well, until he needed to pick up Leon.  But Meri and I made lasagna for supper that night and we ate on the china.

I hope you all enjoyed Father's Day!

What it's all about

On Friday afternoon, Robb and I headed out before 5pm.  An old friend from work's mother passed away, so we wanted to see him at the viewing.  I hadn't seen him since the Christmas party, nor his wife or sons for many years.  The boys were about a yard taller...  and adults.

After paying our respects, and since we were halfway to my hometown, we finished the trip and used a gift card we'd gotten for the Outback steakhouse.  I sincerely hope we can get that Outback steak seasoning, because wow...  

Not sure how it would do on the prison-grade steaks we usually pick up for super secret steak night, but at the Outback, the steaks melted in your mouth.  mmmmm

We stayed at a local hotel in town and got to the community building early to set up for the 60th anniversary party.  I'd pulled a LOT of stuff out of ye ol' wedding hallway and put it to use again

.  The salt and pepper shakers even got used!  My oldest sister arrived to help set up.  Robb sent Maddy a text with a photo like this one and she texted back, "It's my wedding!" or something like that.  It IS except in mini-form.

Same sister had accumulated over 600 photos in a FB album from all the siblings and put together a slideshow that ran constantly during lunch.  SO neat to see pics I'd never seen before that other family members had had.  And now I have them all in that album!  Well, we all do.  What a treasure trove of memories!

My brother had this one!  I guess it was in a basket of photos that had been my great grandmother's.  It's my dad with a cigar...  

This is the same family where THIS photo had come from.  

I guess we know where we got our sense of humor!

A couple sisters were instrumental in making a banner that will be hung in my mom's nursing home room.  We got as many people to sign it as we could.

The party was great.  Tons of great food and the 50th anniversary movie that still makes me cry.  I'm glad I had a napkin with me to dab my eyes.

Everything went SO fast! 

 Suddenly people were starting to leave and the cleanup, with family, went SO fast!  

Robb washed dishes and my mom, insisting on helping out, dried for him.  The rest of us dashed about clearing tables, sweeping, packing up leftovers, etc.  Then we sat and visited a little more until some residents from the community starting peeking in the doors wondering if they could set up a poker game or at the very least, get to the popcorn machine.  Well, they probably COULD, but the grandkids polished off all the stale stuff.

And then we headed home...

Happy 60th anniversary Mom and Dad!

SO much love!

And that's what it's all about.

Affected by the past

On Saturday, two of my sisters and myself sorted the last of my Dad's stash of photos and miscellaneous from their old house.  It was amazing to waltz through the past and see photos I'd never seen before.

Since an aunt had asked for a lot of the old family photos on my Mom's side, I took a snap shot with my camera to save them for us.  So a LOT of the photos below are just of my Mom's side of the family.  I'm sure my paternal cousins were wondering, HEY!  on FB.  

I'll scan some in of that side of the family soon.

This is my mother's father and aunt when they were just kids.  Weren't they sweet?

Again, them a little older.  My grandpa looks so much like my cousin's sons...

Here is my grandmother at fourteen years old with her god child.

Then a little while later at nursing school.

I did find some great pics of my dad as a child.  Besides the one that I SO love when he was accosted as a baby in front of these very bushes, here he is with my other grandmother at probably age 3-4.

My maternal grandma, a little while older on her wedding day with the little boy from the first photo.

From what I've been told their reception was a bunch of watermelon on the lawn of the church.

SIMPLE yet memorable.

Here she is some years later.

This is my dad and a brother that died too early.  I can't remember if this is the brother that died while swimming and getting caught in underwater weeds or died of a brain embolism on a hot summer morning. 

But I love the smile on Dad's face! I love to hear him laugh too.

Then my mom as a young girl with her siblings.  She's the second from the right. Second oldest.

LOVE these stair step photos of the kids.  She's second from the left.

Then the whole family a while later.  The family resemblances of my aunts and uncles and their kids are uncanny.

And especially in the more casual shots!

Is that my aunt Dorcas wearing JEANS???! Scandalous!

Then that mysterious family.  I reread the back last night with Maddy (YES SHE'S HOME FOR THE WEEK!!! YAY!!).  My mom wrote that this was a minister and a few of his kids.  Family friends of her family and how one of these kids ATE her ex-lax during a visit.  

Not sure how much, but yikes...

Lock your medicine cabinets!

And then when Mom was probably twenty or so on a family vacation.  Grandma must be taking the picture.  The kid on the bumper could EASILY be confused with my cousin Danny, but it's his dad as a teen.

Then Mom on her wedding day.  My sister said that back in the day, brides would get their photos taken professionally ahead of the wedding, then give these as gifts to their new husband on the wedding day itself.  Sad how it transformed into modern day boudior sessions...

 

Then after the first baby!  My sister Tammy.

Then a couple MORE kids! I love how dad was wrestling with them!  I don't remember rough housing much with dad.  The older ones must have worn him out and he passed that responsibility off onto the older kids and wow were they good at it!!!

And my Grandpa!!!  Dad's father.  He divorced from Dad's mom when Dad was just a baby.  He came back into Dad's life later and I'm so glad.  I have fond memories of him.

This is Dad's great grandmother on her 100th birthday in 1956.  Wow...  We've got some longevity in our blood!!!

My grandparents and their kids and and a few grandkids.    I think my older sister is being held by my dad in this one.  I'm probably not born yet. I recognize the pointy hat coat from previous pics I've seen of her.

But here I am in the middle.  As always...  One of my siblings, probably Teresa, made this for 4H.  She's the face on the bottom.  I remember it hanging in our living room for a LOT of years.  I think my youngest sister, the top face, wants it, so I may give it to her.  It could sure use some restoration, huh?

 And last but not least, my maternal grandma again.  What a sweet kind woman!  She and Grandpa lived just a few miles from us growing up and Grandpa was our minister until he couldn't anymore.  So we got to see and know them really well. 

Grandma Gertrude had several bushes of peonies next to the front stoop at their parsonage.  And I planted several next to my porch in memory of her.  She passed away when I was 12 or so.

And even now, I'm getting teary eyed typing about her...

Anyway, off to another day!  You have a good one!!!