R.I.P. Grandma

So, my Grandma, Caden, & I all went out one day.  It was nice to spend the day with her.  We both tried on these silly hats [above pic] that had hair coming out of the tops of it.  I asked her that day if she was taking her medicine (knowing that she wasn't).  She replied, "No.  I'm 82.  I don't want to take anymore pills.  If God wants to take me, then it's my time and he'll take me."  Me, having my grandparents so close to me for my entire life- of course freaks out and says, "Grandma, you have to take your pills!"  She just laughs & changes the subject.  Well, anyway, I brought my video camera that day, too.  Something told me to get some video of her with Caden.  And it's a good thing, I did.  She went into the hospital about 10 days later, and never made it home.

I could go into what went down- but I really don't want to talk about it anymore.  So, instead I will just think of all of the awesome memories we have together.





My grandparents met at a Fair in PA.  They quickly got married, had 11 kids, 31 grandkids, and 21 GREAT grandkids.      My Papa passed away Thanksgiving Day of 2003.  I think they were one of the cutest couples (along with my Grandma & Papa H.).

I was born in Texas, and Grandma & Papa moved down there and lived there from when I was about 2 to 10 yrs old.  They lived with us at one point until they found a place.  It was sooooo awesome having them so close.  I remember playing with our toys with them.

I remember spending the night at their place.  Papa worked the night shift or went to bed early.  While Grandma & I stayed up late watching Friday the 13th, Twilight Zone, or any other scary thing we could find.  One night, Grandma got up to get coffee & I saw a mouse run across the room.  I freaked out and made her carry me over to the kitchen counter while she made her coffee.  Haha!  We still talked about that night.  I remember being sick, and her bringing me ginger ale (the good kind) and a cold rag for my forehead.  :)   I remember when we went to sleep we "drew" on each other's back.  You had to guess what the other person was writing.  I miss that game.  They were there for every Christmas morning.

One time she & my mom were working late at night, and I got locked out of the building and ran around the building in the dark, crying my eyes out.  Thank GOD I found them.  I can still picture sitting on the picnic table crying in one of their laps while they stroked my hair telling me everything is okay.

Holidays were such a great time in my family.  Grandma & my mom were always working their butts off in the kitchen.  And Grandma was always smiling.  She was so much fun to play games with, because she showed no mercy!  (ha- come to think of it, neither of my grandma's did.)  She even played "Bullshit" with Mikey & I.  She didn't like to swear, so it was quite amusing.



Seriously, she was such a great person.  I know some people may think highly of certain people.  But for some reason, my grandma felt like an angel to me.  It's hard to explain, so I won't even try.  She went through a LOT in her life.  And yet she still had sunny disposition.  I always had a great time with her.  She made me smile :)



Last Christmas, she stuffed gift wrap in her sweater to compare baby bumps!  Haha.  Always goofing off.  It's weird, but I feel like she knew this was her last Christmas with us.  She was totally ready to be in Heaven with Papa, her 2 sons, and her other family members.



You could buy Grandma anything, and she would be sooo appreciative of it.  She would also give you anything.  You'd be at her house and compliment something of hers and she'd say, "oh, here, you can have it."  I always had to keep her from giving me stuff.  She never wanted to hold on to anything.  She just wanted everyone around her to have everything they wanted.



Look how friggin' cute she is- goofing off again by putting a Christmas stocking on.




At one point, while she was in the hospital, she had 3 broken ribs and was holding Caden.  I told her to be careful, she has broken ribs and shouldn't hold him on her chest like that.  She said, "ahh, who cares?  He's my little boy and I'll hold him like I want. Haha."  followed by a cute little smile.

I will definitely miss her VERY, VERY much!  But I know that she is where she wants to be.  She was ready & not afraid, that helps me through this, but it's still hard.  I could talk to her about anything.  She never judged me and always made me feel better.  I'd like to believe that a part of who I am today is because of her.  It's just going to be really hard, to not be able to call her and hear her talking back to me.

I just REALLY hope she is where she wants to be & is having a beautiful time.  Because if anyone deserves that it's her.

I have a TON of other memories of her, but I'm not going to type them all up.  I am also glad that Jimmy & I went over to her place one night a few years ago to have her teach us how to make her dumplings for chicken noodle soup.  :)

At her funeral, they walked her out of the church to her favorite song, Let There be Peace on Earth.  I had goosebumps.

She told me that I am a great mom, and that means a lot to me.  I'm so thankful, that God waited so that she could meet Caden & hold him in her arms.  Now that my mom is a grandma she will have a chance to be an extraordinary grandma, just like mine.  :)  I can't wait!