Tag Archive for grandma’s

A Fond Farewell

10847257_10154864705160401_3281772053450910475_oToday while I was driving I was trying to remember the last time that I talked to my Grandma.  I am fairly certain that it was Thanksgiving Day.  I called her to wish her and my Grandpa a Happy Thanksgiving.  They were bustling around the kitchen together getting their Thanksgiving dinner ready so we did not talk for very long.  I wished them a “Happy Thanksgiving” and told my Grandma that I loved her.  A week later to the day, she was gone.  Our dear, sweet, loving Grandma was no longer with us.

My Grandma was one of the kindest people I have ever known.  You know on her 90th birthday we all pitched in and got her a Mac Book which she loved learning how to use. Her love of learning never faltered.  She was a voracious reader, and loved learning how to use Google to find the information she needed. As a matter of fact at one point in her life she wrote a letter to The Encyclopedia Britannica correcting them, and they listened!

Some of my fondest memories of my Grandma include-

Her stories and memories of times gone by.  Especially the stories of how she met my Grandpa, and how their favorite place to go for their anniversary dinner was the Dog-n-Suds.

The fact that she drove a red convertible VW bug, and then a gorgeous blue Mustang. I thought she was so cool, and so hip!

We would always talk about gardening, composting and how her fruit trees were doing.  She would always ask how my garden was doing, or what I was planning on planting.

A couple of my conversations around her birthday centered around granddaughter Madison.  We were discussing the fact that Madison’s zodiac sign was the same as hers (Madison’s great-great grandma).  My Grandma kept telling me she’s going to be stubborn and independent just like me.  Remember my recent story about “Madditude”?

My memories of my Grandma are always surrounded by her love of her family.  She would always stay in touch with everyone on birthdays, anniversaries, and at Christmas time.  To me she was like the glue holding all of the extended family together.

I consider myself incredibly blessed to have been included in these five generation pictures over the years:

3-Renee's 5G

4-Naomi's

P7220019

Is still amazes me to this day that my Grandma, my Mom and I are in all three of these pictures.  Such priceless history, and such precious memories.   I will miss my Grandma dearly, and hold my memories of her close to my heart.

Sometimes life can be overwhelming.  The week before my Grandma passed away is when our daughter suffered a serious epileptic seizure.  I remember saying to myself I cannot handle anymore, my plate is overflowing.  But minute by minute, hour by hour, and day by day we get through life.  My Mom and I have a new saying we share with each other when life is overwhelming us.  We just tell each other or remind each other that “Life is Life”.

The Power’s out Grandma -Now what do we do?

Last Saturday our beloved Southern California Edison had scheduled some sort of maintenance stuff, and we had been notified that the power would be out some time between the hours of 7am and 3:30pm, by mail.  I wonder how many people in the neighborhood forgot about this and had friends or family over?  This timeframe was ok for me.  I didn’t have a whole lot going on, and whatever was urgent I finished on Friday.  My only commitment was to host my grandson, Evan, for an overnighter so his parents could have a “date night”.

 In a perfect world the power would have been off between 7am and 3:30pm, but in my world the power went out at about 11am, and didn’t come back on until almost 9pm!!!  The nerve. 

 I called my daughter to delay Evan’s arrival until 5pm or so.   Evan came over with the pepperoni pizza and bread sticks in hand, and I had a movie to watch.  At this point in the day the power was supposed to be back on at 6pm.  Of course I called to check on it.  My grandson was on his way over and I was the entertainment!   I figured no big deal, about 45 minutes with no power and then we could get on with our evening.  After Evan put the pizza in the kitchen and said his goodbyes to his Mom, he was investigating the house, the light switches, the tv. Walking around very inquisitively.

And this was his battery of questions-

So you mean the computer won’t turn on?

The light bulbs in the lights won’t turn on?

What about the plugs?  They still work don’t they.

Will the tv turn on how are we going to watch our movie??

And my response to each of these was “No Evan that needs electricity to work”.  It took him awhile to digest that information.

So, 6:15 rolls around, and still no power.  I called again to get a status and now the power won’t be back on until 9pm.  Yikes!  Not the evening I had planned.  Mini panic by Grandma at this time.

Now, Evan’s just a little scared because it’s getting dark, and our entire neighborhood is in the dark.  The street in front of our house is just pitch black.   I lit the fireplace in the living room, lit some candles, and we each had a flashlight.  At some point I had asked Evan if he wanted to go home, and he said, “Nope”.  Evan was too nervous to eat any pizza so he just snacked on the bread sticks.

 We played a short game of memory, and then Evan was looking around the living room and he says, “So this means I can’t play any video games, or watch tv right now”.  I replied, “You’ve got it!  This is a video/tv vacation”.  I’m thinking to myself maybe we should make this a regular thing.

Next I busted about my iPad.  I realize this contradicts my no electronics statement, but a Grandma’s got to go what a Grandma’s got to do.  I have some games on the iPad that Evan likes to play, plus it was well-lit.  We played checkers, tic-tac-toe, connect four, and then scrabble.  Evan’s really starting to get into the scrabble board.  He needs a little help, but enjoys putting the word puzzle together.

 Finally, the power came back on at about 9pm.  We scream Yahooeeeee, turn on the tv to watch the smurfs, make popcorn,  and eat some pizza.  TV/video vacation was over.

Isn’t it funny in this age of all things electronic that we just don’t take more time for some peace and quiet.  I think I have a new concept for overnighters at Grandma’s house.  A video vacation will be part of our new overnighter routine, and we’ll learn a new board game or card game, and read some extra stories together.

It doesn’t get any better than this.  Good night Evan.

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