April 29, 2013 will go down as a very memorable day for my family. It was the day that my Granny passed away. Granny had been struggling with dementia and Alzheimer's for the last 8-10 years. She had really taken a turn for the worst over the last few months, and we were basically waiting for the day when she would pass and go meet her Savior. We had been visiting her a lot over the last couple months because we knew that it would be any day. The night she passed we all sat around and shared stories about her. We left to eat supper, and she left to meet the Lord while we were gone.
On one hand, I am so sad because she was such an integral part of my life growing up. She took care of me a lot because my mom worked full time my entire childhood and still does to this day. I stayed with Granny in the summers during school years, and I spent the night with her almost every Saturday night just because I wanted to be with her. She was one of my best friends growing up. We had our little rituals that we would do, and I loved it. Being with her and the times we shared are some of the best memories I have of being a kid. Here are the things I never want to forget about her and our times together...
We would visit her elderly mother a lot, who always had Kraft Mac'n'cheese made for me with homemade biscuits and homemade root beer. We would clean the church on Thursdays, which meant I would play on the piano and microphones (driving her crazy), straighten the books in the pew, gather the trash, and vacuum while Granny did all the heavy duty stuff. When she was feeling a little light-hearted, she would play the piano for me. She didn't have any training to play. She played by ear, and my favorite thing she played was "There is a Fountain." We also spent hours in the yard gathering flowers for Sunday church service that she stressed about getting to the church early enough.
On Saturdays, we would go to the grocery store and sometimes the barber shop. Granny wore her hair short, so she just got a cheap cut at the barber's. She got my hair cut there one time too without my mom's permission, and I cried for about 3 hours straight and wouldn't get out of the car because I was embarrassed. I told her she was gonna be in a lot of trouble when we got home and I showed my mama (yes, I was a brat). It was an awful hair cut though! I know she was trying to make her life easier because she had to fix my hair a lot, but man it was terrible.
On our way home we would stop at Sonic (before it was the cool thing to do) and get a chocolate malt for Granny Leca and 2 pink lemonades for me and Granny. One time, we got in a car accident with a trailer that had come loose, and those pink lemonades flew all over the car! After the grocery store trip, we would climb in bed and watch Golden Girls and Empty Nest. I didn't always make it through the episodes because those were long fun days!
She was a really good cook too! Some of her specialties included roast with rice and gravy, butter beans, little meat patties (Brad's favorite and she always made them when she knew he was coming for lunch), 7-up cake, berry juice and tea, mayhaw jelly with sour cream on biscuits, spaghetti with the meat finely chopped up, lemon ice box pie, and I can't forget "spoon pudding" and homemade vegetable soup!
She worked at my Great Aunt Be-at's and Lizzy's store, and I spent a whole lot of time there when I was a young child. I loved helping her fill up the drink box in the store, check the gas with the big long stick, eat frozen Snicker's out of the deep freezer in the summer time, play store with all of the items they never sold anymore that had dust on them, make lemon pies and percolate coffee for Aunt Be-at and Lizzy, and check out the customers. I remember she always sewed the Enquirer magazine together for Aunt Be-at so she wouldn't get the pages out of order.
I remember her always telling us to always make sure you didn't leave the house without panties on and make sure the ones you had on were clean in case you had to go to jail or the hospital.
There are so many more memories of her that I could include...the best ones I have of her though are her love of Christ and her servant hood. She helped more people than any one woman should be able to, especially when I think of how little she had herself. There were many times she would give people all she had. When I would ask how she was gonna make it herself, she would always say the Good Lord will provide, and He always did. She prayed constantly. I asked her more than one time when I would hear her mumbling, "Granny, who are you talking to?" She would always say,"Just talking to the Lord." Some of the best life lessons I know came from her including these Bible verses that were her favorites:
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
I Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil
I love this woman for everything she was and especially all the things she wasn't- pretentious, pompous, in the spotlight, self-centered, and worldly. I rest in the comfort that she is with her Savior in heaven smiling down on all of us. I know she is singing with the angels, and she has probably requested a few if not all of these songs by now:
The Lily of the Valley, There is a Fountain, He Touched Me, Glad Reunion Day, When the Roll is Called Up Yonder, and many many more!
Our whole family at Thanksgiving with Granny. This was the last time she really interacted with us. Sweet thing :)
I know that Granny doesn't look all that great here, but Ryleigh Jane was being so sweet and loving on her this day. This was the last picture I have of her. You will be greatly missed Granny! We love you! September 7, 1925-April 29, 2013
No comments:
Post a Comment