So lately everything I do, see, and eat reminds me of a special someone. My Grandma Bonnie. I keep telling Michael "So my Grandma and I used to...." or "This reminds of my Grandma because..." I'm not sure if he is getting sick of it or not or if he really even notices that I do it, but I have really been missing her lately, remembering all the good things she taught me, and all the fun times we had.
A lot of Saturday's growing up were spent at Grandma's house. Just me and her decorating/ cleaning/ talking/ gardening while Grandpa Hoople was out in the yard tinkering with something or another. Our cleaning adventures included making the bed just right so that the sheet would fold down revealing the top three inches and folding the pillows into the comforter hotel style, dusting the ceiling fans with the swiffer stick, me getting on my hands and knees to scrub the floor and a variety of other things. She would always tell me over and over how good the floor looked when I was done and that with her hips she just couldn't do it like that anymore. She always told me stories and I always listened. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
After we would get both bathrooms clean, the house dusted, and the carpets vacuumed we whipped up some lunch. The regular was albacore tuna fish with chopped up dill pickles in it (she left the celery out because she knew how much I hate it.), slices of Tillamook cheese, club crackers, pepperoni sticks and a cold drink. And if we had been doing something that wore us out, like Christmas lights, Grandma would call and order pizza. This was a big deal to me because the delivery man brought it, this never happened at home. AND she let me pick exactly what kind I wanted, it was a privilege.
Any holiday reminds me of Grandma. We spent a lot of time together decorating for every holiday of the year. In Grandma's eyes every holiday was important and every holiday deserved some kind of decor. Especially Christmas and Halloween. She had countless window clings and an endless supply of decorations. I love it!
Games also remind me a lot of Grandma. I loved playing Trouble with her. I don't know if her or I got more excited to pop the dice in the middle. She would spin the Twister board and tell us "Left foot green..." We would get so twisted up and she would sit, watch us, and laugh the entire time. I quite enjoyed a good game of Uno with her. I would stick my cards in the crack of the table and tell my grandma how innovative I was. I'm fairly certain she loved it. I also love playing pick up sticks. Every time the boys all went to General Conference priesthood session we whipped it out and played and played and played.
She knew just how to make each one of her six grandchildren feel loved. She gave them all their alone time with Grandma and Grandpa. Each one of us had a time when just us would go over and have a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's. We would go out to our favorite restaurant, play games, have bubble baths with bubbles to the ceiling, run through the sprinklers, pickup snails from the garden, anything our heart desired. And I remember on more than one occasion stopping at the duck pond to feed the ducks on our way home. Maybe this is why I still love feeding the ducks... who knows?
I could go on and on and on.... but I will spare you and just put some additional things that have reminded me of her lately.... coo-coo clocks, mac & cheese, 7-up cake, Christmas lights, fiber optics, hummingbirds, toaster strudels, canned soda, candy dishes, Christmas villages, roses, root beer barrels, Olive Garden, the Old Spaghetti Factory, and flavored lemonade.
I'm so glad that I have been blessed with the knowledge of Heavenly Father's plan for each of His children and know that one day I can see my Grandma again. It's a beautiful thing. But until then, I'll keep eating tuna, playing pick up sticks, feeding ducks and think of her.
This is the view out my bedroom window and my ever changing tree.
