My Life Monday

Since I was gone for most of Monday, I'm posting this a little late!
The topic is: In memory of....

This is my father's parents. This post is in memory of my beautiful grandmother H. She died August 25, 1999. She wasn't very old when she died, only 58, but she led a very filling life. She had colon cancer and she lived for over a year past her initial diagnosis. Her last year was an eye opener for me.
My grandma LOVED life. She was an outdoors woman that taught me to love the outdoors. She loved fishing, hunting, camping and just being outside. Thanks to her I have MANY memories of camp outs with my family and names for things that probably shouldn't be called what she called them. One of my favorite memories involves the place we went camping this weekend. She had to go to the bathroom, and the only facilities around was a small outhouse down the road. She HATED spiders and if there was a chance that one would be around, she'd take preventative measures (many times, me!) She grabbed my hand and told me that we needed to take a walk to the "pinky-stinky!" So, for many many MANY years I called outhouses "pinky-stinkies!"
I was her oldest grandchild and I have memories of her for as long as I can remember. I can remember coming to her aid time and time again when she'd find a spider (I was her spider killer) and I remember her outside of her home without shoes. The woman hated shoes of any kind and had the funniest flip-flops I'd ever seen. There was no top to them, just the soles! It was one of her prized finds! She only wore the things a few times, but it was funny to see her coming toward us, barefooted...except she wasn't really!
Going to her house, I would be assaulted with smells. Smells of yummy food and cigarette smoke. She was a smoker until about 3 or 4 years before she died. So for a long time the smell of cigarette smoke was a comfort to me, now it just makes me gag!
One of the funniest things about my grandma was her love of the color orange. EVERYTHING in her house was orange, from the carpet in her living room, to the laminate in her kitchen. When I think of her house '70's orange is the color that comes to mind! She loved collecting things too. She had a small bookcase filled with Garfield toys, her fridge was covered in magnets, and she had spoons and knick knacks on her walls. She was a mother to 8 kids. Many of them have inherited her sense of humor. My dad told me that one of her famous sayings was one that my own mother adopted when we got too obnoxious. "I'm going to change my name to a bad word, so when you say it I can slap you!" Of course, since it was from my grandmother, she'd actually put in the swear word, but I'm not a swearing person, so I've omitted it! But she was very funny and passed that quality onto her family.
One of the best memories I have of her happened a few months before we found out she had cancer. She was a bus driver for the local school district and she even taught driver's ed for CDLs! She was an amazing driver! Every year she'd have to go to Boise for the state bus driver meetings and that year she asked me to go. We had so much fun. She told me stories of her growing up years and we giggled like little girls. That trip will ALWAYS be a highlight in my life!
Ever since I was a little girl I wanted to have my grandmother come to my wedding. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I knew I wanted to be married in the temple and I also knew that she wasn't able to go because she had several faults that prevented it. So on that trip to Boise I let her know that I wanted her there. Shortly after that she and my grandpa became active once again in the church and a year before I got married they were able to go themselves! After I met Steve, she drilled him with questions about what our lives would be like and how many kids we'd have. I was happy to know that she approved of him and that she'd be able to go to my wedding. We set our wedding date for early August, but unfortunately, things weren't working out, so we had to move the date back to October. She died the end of August and I was heartbroken. I wanted her there badly! We had been praying for her to be released from the pain of her small, broken body, so it was a relief, but all the same I was upset she wouldn't be there. On my wedding day, I was blessed to know that she was there in spirit. There was an empty seat beside my grandpa and I knew that she was there!
I love and miss my grandmother. There are days when I think about her ornery attitude and I see it in Cam or feel it in myself. She was a wonderful woman and I dearly, dearly miss her!

To Read OTHER MLMs go to Rachelle's blog.