From left: me, Megan, Grandma, Great-Grandma, Mom.
2002
On my mind today.
The photo above was taken around May 2002, when Great-Grandma was pretty far into her journey with Alzheimer's. We all wanted to get the five generations of women together at least once, so Mom, Megan and I all made the trip down to California. For me, it was a hard trip.
Growing up, every one of us knew how special Great-Grandma thought we were, because she told us all the time. And her favorite word was "precious", that was the one she always used to show her love.
There sweet was a sweet moment during our visit to California. My mom and I were sitting on the couch with Megan laid out in front of us. Great-Grandma sat down and was just admiring Megan for a minute. Then she said, "She's so precious," and she sounded just like she used to. Like she always did when she told us just how precious we were. I forgot for a minute that she wasn't really there in her mind. It was just my Great Grandma, so precious to me, loving on her great, great granddaughter.
C.J. and I, wrapped up in Great-Grandma's arms.
Great-Grandma was born in 1913 in Missouri, and traveled with her entire family in one tiny car to California. She was married at 17, and had two children.
In her life, she was a potato farmer, a berry picker, pie baker, and a department store saleswoman.
She drank half a cup of coffee at a time and rubbed Vic's Vapo Rub under our noses every night before bed.
She's the reason I journal. She kept journals for most of her adult life, and stored them away in her china hutch. I think they have been lost now, but maybe they will show up again one day.
She was a terrible singer, but that didn't stop her from singing! She would sing and sing and then laugh and laugh at how terrible she sounded!
She was a great story teller and loved to recite poetry.
She pored over photo albums with me endlessly and told me the story of her life.
She never laughed half-way and she never let you leave her house with an empty stomach.
She wrote things like, "Yes!" and "Amen!" next to her favorite passages in her old Bible. I loved to flip through it's pages to see what all she had written.
She liked Butter Rum Life Savers and made me sit on her lap until I was a teenager.
She loved the Lord with all her heart, soul, mind, and strength.
She was the best.
In her life, she was a potato farmer, a berry picker, pie baker, and a department store saleswoman.
She drank half a cup of coffee at a time and rubbed Vic's Vapo Rub under our noses every night before bed.
She's the reason I journal. She kept journals for most of her adult life, and stored them away in her china hutch. I think they have been lost now, but maybe they will show up again one day.
She was a terrible singer, but that didn't stop her from singing! She would sing and sing and then laugh and laugh at how terrible she sounded!
She was a great story teller and loved to recite poetry.
She pored over photo albums with me endlessly and told me the story of her life.
She never laughed half-way and she never let you leave her house with an empty stomach.
She wrote things like, "Yes!" and "Amen!" next to her favorite passages in her old Bible. I loved to flip through it's pages to see what all she had written.
She liked Butter Rum Life Savers and made me sit on her lap until I was a teenager.
She loved the Lord with all her heart, soul, mind, and strength.
She was the best.
