My sweet Grandmother

My Grandmother was one of the sweetest ladies I know.  She had a tough life and didn't have a whole lot in terms of material possessions but you would never know it.  However, she was blessed with family and friends who loved her and that meant the world to her.  She was always giving to people - mostly her vegetable soup, cornbread, home grown vegetables or anything else she decided to cook or grow.  Oh my was she a good cook.   She could grow anything.   I tried to learn some of her cooking techniques and recipes but I don't think I did a very good job.  She never really had any recipes written down, so it was extremely difficult to make her food just like her.  She would always say "just a little of this and a little of that".  She was always working in her garden and she also had a few "pet" lizards.  She would always talk to them on her front porch and their name was always Pete.

The one thing her 2 daughters have tried to recreate is her dressing.  I think they have it pretty close, but it took a lot of practice!!

After accomplishing so many "I want to do this before I die",  my Grandmother passed away on September 8, 2001.  Some of those accomplishments were walking down the aisle (not in a wheel chair) at our wedding, going to one last annual family reunion (her family was very important to her), and one more birthday.

Towards the end of her days here on earth, she was not doing so well and didn't really know what all was going on.  She had 24/7 care at home.  We weren't really sure why she was still hanging on (besides the fact that God wasn't ready for her yet).  The only thing we could think of was she was really wanting to celebrate her 83rd birthday on September 26.  Well, on September 7 we gathered all the family at her home and had a "birthday party".  We even sang Happy Birthday to her while she lay in bed.  It was one of the sweetest times (even though we weren't being very truthful).  However, I think that is what she wanted - all of her family gathered together one last time because on the morning of September 8 she went on to heaven to be with her Savior!!  We laugh at the scenario now that she entered heaven and realized that she wasn't 83 and was going to be mad at her family for celebrating early.

She was such a sweet lady and I know she would have loved my boys.  I always wish I could ask her how she disciplined my mom since my mom and Trevor are so much a like.  She is deeply missed but we always have such fun memories of being with her.