I have the most wonderful Grandma. She is 90 years old and the sweetest woman on the planet. My grandma bore 13 children, raised 12 and buried 2 before she was 75. She worked hard and lived her faith. I don't know any woman like her. Growing up, there was no better place to be than with Grandma. I can still feel what it felt like to hold her hand. She is a very important person in my life. Here are some important lessons she taught me.
1. Food is very important and should be the first thing you offer people when they come to your house. It also should always be homemade, have a lot of calories and taste wonderful. Everything my grandma cooked was yum. Sloppy joes, potato soup, pie, cookies, her special salad dressing, fried chicken...everything tasted great at Grandmas. Even fried eggs.
2. Children are the most important thing in the world. My grandma is the mother of 13 children. Her first child died during child birth. She had 11 girls and one son after that. My mother was 7th of those. She delighted in her children, her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren. I never heard a harsh word towards me or my cousins. She was kind and caring to me all the time. She has hundreds of framed pictures of me and my cousins and our children as the decorations in her home.
3. You should accept your children for who they are. My grandma was upset when my mother left the Catholic faith. I don't blame her. If Emily came to me and said she was leaving the LDS church, I would be distraught. Somehow, my grandma came to peace with my mother's decision. I never saw my Grandma angry with her or harsh with her. She accepted her because she knows that love is unconditional. She loved my mother no matter what.
4. Things are not the most important things. My grandma's house is very comfortable. It is not flashy or fancy. The decor is nice and cute and shows what is important in her heart: God and family. My grandma knows that God and family are more important than fancy homes or clothes or cars.
5. When someone you love comes to visit, you should give them a really big hug. When they have to leave, you should wave with both hands until you can't see them anymore.
6. You should believe in God and give Him all the praise for the good things in your life. I loved going to church with Grandma when I would visit her. Even though we practiced different religions, it was comforting to be with her worshiping God. Hearing her words of prayer soothed my soul.
7. Hard work is a blessing of God and a necessity of life. Obviously, with 12 children, my grandma worked hard and she taught her children to work. Grandma was always cooking, washing, cleaning, sewing, or preparing to work. When I was a young child, she and my grandpa had a farm. They had animals and acres to care for. Not only did she care for her home, but she assisted in caring for the farm. She canned fruits and vegetables and meats. One fond memory I have is when they made sausage in the basement of the farm house. I think a pig had been slaughtered and they were making pork sausages. My parents were there helping and I was given the job of blowing up the casings for the sausages before the meat mixture was put in it. I was happily blowing up the casings until I asked what they were made of. I spit them out when I found out they were pig intestines.
8. Your husband should be the light of your life. My grandpa died when I was 15. I wasn't astute enough to notice what kind of a relationship they had. However, I have seen a picture of them at their 50th wedding anniversary. They are laughing and smiling at each other like there is no one more important than each other. I love that photo of them and I think that's how they must have felt about each other.
9. You should always laugh and have fun. One fun thing my grandma did with me were playing Kismet. I loved to play Kismet with her! Also, loved to play card games with her. Grandma was always laughing at a funny story or happening. She had a fun sense of humor. Her eyes were always smiling. I get a little catch in my throat when I think of my grandma's smiling eyes. They are one of the most wonderful things in the world. Grandma liked to go to McDonalds. It was a treat to go there with her.
I'm sure there are many more lessons I learned from her, I just can't think of them right now. These nine are pretty important ones. When I was a senior in high school, two girlfriends and I wanted to go somewhere for spring break. We all had family in Michigan and decided to drive from place to place visiting family, shopping and having fun. The second stop was to my grandmas. We were to stay there one night and then we were all planning on leaving the next morning. I went to bed that night feeling like I should cancel my plans with my friends and stay with my grandma for the entire rest of the break. For some reason, i needed to be with her. I told my friends in the morning what I was doing. They were pretty mad at me and our friendship was never quite the same after. However, my grandma I and had such a great time the rest of the week together. I don't specifically remember anything we did together, but I know it was wonderful being with her. I am thankful that I made that choice. Now I only see my grandma once a year at a family Christmas party. Age has left her body but taken her mind and I am not sure if she even knows who I am. I see her face and look into her eyes and squeeze her hands and want her to remember me . It is painful and very difficult for me to see her now. I know that one day I will be with the grandma that I knew again.
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