Our Sweet “Grandmommie”

My sweet “Grandmommie” passed away last week. She had been battling a respiratory cold for a few days and at just two months shy of 96, it was too much for her.

We are all so sad because we will miss her and she has been such a constant in our lives for such a long time. I am heart broken that this is just weeks before our little girl is set to arrive. We all knew this was coming soon but I am sad that they won’t get to meet.

She was a mother to five, a grandmother to ten, a great-grandmother to eleven, and still a great-great grandmother to one. In Heaven, she will be greeted by her own parents and siblings, a husband, a daughter, and a grandson, all of who left her far before their time. And countless friends. She was quite the social butterfly and I think that must be one of the hardest parts of aging, when your friends start to pass on without you. 

A two-time cancer survivor, who grew up during the Great Depression, and with nearly 96 years on this earth, my grandmother had a lot of wisdom. There is far too much to list but some of my favorite pieces are:

• You are never to young to start using anti-wrinkle cream. Slather it on in large quantities every night.
• When you find a comfortable pair of shoes that you look good in, buy them in every color.
• There is nothing wrong with a lady wearing (nice) pants to church…or anywhere else for that matter.
• Always keep candies, cookies, cheese biscuits or some kind of treat on hand for unexpected guests.
• Sometimes you are old enough to know better but that doesn’t mean there aren’t occasions to do whatever it is you want. (She always says this about when she started dating my grandfather! Ha!)
• There are few things in life that can’t be solved by a homemade chocolate milkshake.
• Accept help when you need it, and when you don’t – offer it to someone else. 
• A tall glass of milk and your women’s multivitamin are the keys to good health.
• Take lots of pictures. And hang them up or set them out for everyone to see.
• Money doesn’t guarantee happiness but family does. (Spoken from someone who grew up and got married during the Depression.)

I sure will miss this sweet woman. I was so very fortunate that she was in my life for 28 years and that when it came time to leave the family farm, she picked my hometown to move to, which meant many play dates after school, dinners together, and Sunday lunches for most of my life. She was able to be there for all of my big moments and so many people don’t have that. Whenever I would wonder how in the world I ended up so girly when my mom was such a tom boy, she was there in a pantsuit with perfectly matched pumps and a gorgeous pair of earrings and it all made sense. She will be so greatly missed!