I have lots of choice memories from our time with Grandma that month. She was 97 at the time I believe, about to turn 98. She would pack her bag at least once a day to go catch the bus to go back to her childhood home and meet up with her brothers Louis and Parley. I always just told her the bus didn't come till tomorrow.
But there were moments when she was fully with us and completely lucid. I wrote down some of the things she would say in those moments. And I learned from her everyday.
I watched her fold my clothes with such exactness and perfection that by the time her strong hands were done pressing down the fold in the clothes there was no need for ironing. It took her hours to fold but the clothes were folded to perfection and "hand ironed by Grandma" as Jon and I came to term it.
I took her to a ward dinner. People were milling around as a few were setting up. Grandma at 97 hobbled around the gym putting table cloths on tables and the younger people sat around chatting. She would not be stopped from helping and serving.
One night I had been up with the baby several times when I heard Grandma up packing her bags in the middle of the night. I told Jonathan to go put her back to bed. He stumbled off and a few seconds later came quickly back fully awake. He said, "uh, you are going to have to go do that because she thinks I am a rapist there to have my way with her and she could totally take me out." I laughed and went in and settled her back into bed.
One morning I was making her breakfast. I wondered if she knew who I was. I asked her "Grandma, do you know who I am?" She looked at me deeply, studiously, and then nodded her head. Then she said slowly, "you are the one who feeds me." I told her she was right on that and not to forget it. ;)
She gave me her recipe for farm bread complete with "lard the size of egg" as one of the ingredients. She also gave me parenting advice. She told me to choose my children's friends for them but not to let them know it. I should pick the friends and families I liked and invite those kids over to dinner often. Then the kids would become friends.
Here is a letter she dictated to my baby girl while she lived with us:
Dear Sabrina,
Be a good girl. Your smile will brighten up the people. You are as bright as a dollar - a real happy baby. You will be headstrong but your mother will teach you. All the happiness you give to people from your eyes to your smiling face, it will be a pleasure to meet you. You have a good mother and father who will take care of you. Your great grandmother smiles whenever she looks at you. You make me laugh. You have a smile for everybody. And your eyes are as bright as they can be. And your hands waits for me to shake them. You are a real beauty. Your mother should give you a little ice cream and the corner of the loaf of homemade bread.
Have a happy life and enjoy all that happens for good.
A smile for your Grandma - Love - Grandma Harris
Here are a few more quotes from her time with us:
"FOUR girls!!! Four girls I had. Then I got my two boys"
I asked why the girls were so hard: "Girls are always under your feet and you have to sew all those petticoats and dresses. And when they go out you always worry. Boys, you send them out with their father and you are done."
"Her eyes (Sabrina's) are as big and bright as dollars!"
While nursing... "The whole world could turn upside down. She's got something to suck, she don't give a damn."
"Give her a year and a half and she'll understand you."
"Teach her right from wrong and the rest of her life you'll cooperate."
"You make her clothes and treat her like a little girl growing up and she'll never forget you and your way will be her way."
"She has a father. She's lucky"
"You dress her like she likes, a new dress for important things, and you can keep her satisfied. And she'll always come back to you to ask you what's the difference and you'll never have to worry when she goes."
"She is a beautiful little bit of femininity."
One last memory of Grandma for this post. I have more but will share them later. One night a few years before she lived with us, we stopped in Caldwell to visit. I'm not sure what year it was but we were driving through and I was with my Dad. We stayed the night at Dave and Sharon's there and Grandma was with them. I got to sleep in bed with her that night.
I remember her laying in the bed and getting uncharacteristically melancholy. She said, "How long? How long am I gonna be here? Its been 10 (not sure if this was the number she said but it was between 10 and 20) years since Morgan died. I've been waiting so long." She really missed Grandpa and wanted so much to go be with him. I am happy she is happy and with him now.
Photos below of Grandma with Sabrina when she lived with me in Nov. and Dec. 2001
No comments:
Post a Comment