"Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears". That right there folks is all I still remember learning from high school. And as each year passes, I find myself forgetting more and more. I whole heartedly blame the ninjas for this....all three of them. Yes, there are days when I go to put the toaster up....in the microwave. Or make a few laps from the living room to the bedroom hoping that in one of those trips I'll remember what it was I was needing to do. But one thing I hope I never forget are the memories of my grandmother.
My grandma (Mom's mom aka Mema) will be gone two years February 17th. Its so difficult for me to understand that she is gone still. I think it has gotten harder with time, not easier. She was a pistol....even from a wheelchair. I love that she was one of my best friends.
Mema had a pantry that was the birthing place for a game my sister, husband and I would play whenever we could all sneak away. Lets just say you could walk into her pantry and find things that no longer existed.....like my husband's prize, a 1974 jar of Smucker's Caramel Topping. Or green beans that were canned when Lincoln was president. Anyway, we would sneak in there and see who could find the oldest thing in her pantry. And as many times as we played this, we always found something older than the one we had found before.
My Mema could pray and curse in the same sentence with a genuine heart. And of course that is something I was raised never to do, but God understood just fine what she was meaning....and He allowed it. She never hid her feelings or opinions but was the first to cry with you when your heart ached. She kept lipstick in the fridge.........I'm guessing, like with the onions, it made them last longer? No clue. You could never reach inside the refrigerator and grab a tub of butter because there were at least ten of them, and only one contained actual butter. The others held leftovers...or lipstick.
My favorite memory of Mema is one where she and I were in her kitchen and her back was to my husband who was in another room only feet from us. I suppose she thought that we were alone because she began "whispering" to me all her female trouble and issues. I'm not sure which was harder, keeping a straight face as I'm thinking, "I know she did not just say that!!!..EEWW!", or trying not to laugh because over her shoulder were the amazing facial expressions from my husband because he could hear every word she was saying.
Where would we be without our grandparents? Not here of course, but that's besides the point. Mema loved a good joke...clean or dirty. She had a hard life, but you would never have known it. She ate onions and peppers like candy, and had a passion for all things Gaither. I have a thousand more stories and sayings than I can put on here, and I pray I never forget them. Looking back at my life, my grandma was always there. Now, I have to live life without her being in the new memories I make, and that hurts. But I see things that remind me of her in the ninjas....Jack's laughter, Dean's love for games and the way Adam laughs and cringes when you tickle his neck. There is always the fact that because she had Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior, we will meet again. And this time when I smart off, she'll be able to chase after me and tackle me to the ground.
Misti
My grandma (Mom's mom aka Mema) will be gone two years February 17th. Its so difficult for me to understand that she is gone still. I think it has gotten harder with time, not easier. She was a pistol....even from a wheelchair. I love that she was one of my best friends.
Mema had a pantry that was the birthing place for a game my sister, husband and I would play whenever we could all sneak away. Lets just say you could walk into her pantry and find things that no longer existed.....like my husband's prize, a 1974 jar of Smucker's Caramel Topping. Or green beans that were canned when Lincoln was president. Anyway, we would sneak in there and see who could find the oldest thing in her pantry. And as many times as we played this, we always found something older than the one we had found before.
My Mema could pray and curse in the same sentence with a genuine heart. And of course that is something I was raised never to do, but God understood just fine what she was meaning....and He allowed it. She never hid her feelings or opinions but was the first to cry with you when your heart ached. She kept lipstick in the fridge.........I'm guessing, like with the onions, it made them last longer? No clue. You could never reach inside the refrigerator and grab a tub of butter because there were at least ten of them, and only one contained actual butter. The others held leftovers...or lipstick.
My favorite memory of Mema is one where she and I were in her kitchen and her back was to my husband who was in another room only feet from us. I suppose she thought that we were alone because she began "whispering" to me all her female trouble and issues. I'm not sure which was harder, keeping a straight face as I'm thinking, "I know she did not just say that!!!..EEWW!", or trying not to laugh because over her shoulder were the amazing facial expressions from my husband because he could hear every word she was saying.
Where would we be without our grandparents? Not here of course, but that's besides the point. Mema loved a good joke...clean or dirty. She had a hard life, but you would never have known it. She ate onions and peppers like candy, and had a passion for all things Gaither. I have a thousand more stories and sayings than I can put on here, and I pray I never forget them. Looking back at my life, my grandma was always there. Now, I have to live life without her being in the new memories I make, and that hurts. But I see things that remind me of her in the ninjas....Jack's laughter, Dean's love for games and the way Adam laughs and cringes when you tickle his neck. There is always the fact that because she had Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior, we will meet again. And this time when I smart off, she'll be able to chase after me and tackle me to the ground.
Misti
Oh my...the things she had in that pantry! :)
ReplyDeletePrecious!
ReplyDeleteI was waiting to hear about the thing. Yeah, she and I had some good convos. I can't post them though. Too risqué.
ReplyDeleteAwesome. Thanks for sharing a piece of your heart!
ReplyDeleteLoved it ;)
ReplyDelete