Australia Blog 17- Grandma

AUSTRALIA BLOG 17- Grandma


Every time I write a Blog, my mom prints it out and puts it in an envelope to mail to my grandma. My grandma takes the blogs to the Café where she meets her friends every day for coffee, or for my grandma, Diet Dr Pepper, Caffeine Free, if they have it, and shares it with her dear friends.

Maybe I haven’t told you, but if you really know me, you know that my favorite person in this ENTIRE world is my grandma. So, this one is for you.

My parents divorced when I was fiveish and eventually we moved to the small Texas town of Bertram to be near my grandparents. This is where my childhood memories began, buried in animals and dirt and tree climbing and acres and acres of rocky pasture and animals, animals, animals. I got to spend a lot of time with my Grandma and my Grandpa. My Grandpa is the man who inspired me to love animals and to tell a good story, a part of me which is so much of who I am today. His farm was my petting zoo and I always loved the way he told a story or a joke at the top of his lungs and laughed with tears in his eyes as if it was the first time he’d ever told it. It is hard to know one without the other, to me, they will forever be one in the same.

When I was in grade school, we were assigned a project, to write a book about our favorite person, our hero, and I wrote about my Grandma. I told stories about the time my cousin wouldn’t share his snorkel and goggles in the pool, when I came home to tell my grandma, she took me to the store to buy a pair and to cheer me up, in the car on the way home, she took them out of the package while she was driving and put them on. A kid could not have asked for a better grandma.

Some of my favorite memories where when it was just the two of us, I can remember her letting me bring animals into the house, rocking me in her chair while I held a puppy or a baby goat, taking me upstairs to teach me to sew in her sewing room, she taught me to run a sewing machine, to embroider, to paint and to love shoes. She taught me to be a good listener, to treat others with kindness and to always look out for myself.

She was forever kind, caring, and patient, understanding, smart, strong, all knowing, and always hilarious. This was a family raised on laughter and a great sense of humor. You can imagine the person she would be, she has lived through the Great Depression, breast cancer before people talked about it, grew up on a farm before electricity or running water, raised five kids and seven grandkids who adore her. I strive everyday to be like her in my adult life.

As an adult, one of the most important things my Grandma ever told me was about my Grandpa. She told me that throughout the years, in a marriage that last as long as theirs did, you do not hold on to the exact same love you found in the beginning, but that with time, as life evolves, you discover new love and admiration for different reasons. She loved him for being a hard working man and a good provider, later for being a good father, and even later; for being a good grandpa. I think about that almost every day.

She stayed with me the night before I married Josh and while it seemed like no big deal at the time, it will always be one of my treasures.

To this day, when I need advice in life or love, someone to talk to who I know will listen with an open mind and no judgment, or even random information only she will likely know, I just give her a call. She always answers, “Well, hello little girl!” with a smile, and a thick Southern drawl.