Memories

The last week has been a whirlwind of emotions and memories for me, a mixture of happiness and sorrow. I have been reminiscing about my grandma.  This is what is on my mind.  My grandma always loved to fish.  She and my grandpa would stay out all day on the boat fishing.  They would come home with a "mess of fish".  There are many pictures documenting their catch of the day.  I remember grandma standing at the stove frying up the "mess of fish" and a batch of hush puppies.  YUM!  They were always sooo good!   

I also remember my grandmother's beauty rituals.  She always wore makeup.  I think if Avon made it, she bought it.  She had every Avon sample known to man.  I would sit on the toilet lid at night and watch her take off her makeup with Pond's Cold Cream.  Everytime I smell it, I think of her.  She would wrap her hair in toilet paper and pin it to help keep it's shape (it was sort of like a beehive hairdo).  She always had Avon Bubble Bath on the side of her tub.  She let me play with her tiny Avon sample lipsticks.  Sometimes my lips were bright pink, sometimes orangey/coral.  I was a lovely sight, I'm sure.  For Christmas when I was little, she gave me Avon perfume in a bottle shaped like a mouse in a wedding gown.  I loved that thing.  I kept it for years and years.  My grandma's nails were always well manicured and usually painted bright red.  In the living room under the end table, was a shoebox filled with every shade of nail polish imaginable, along with clippers and files.  Grandma did my nails everytime I spent the night with her.  I always got to sleep with grandma when I came to her house.  I think she's the only one who never complained about how much I squirmed and kicked in my sleep. 

I think I get my love of a good bargain from my grandma too.  She used to work at a grocery store so anytime something she used frequently went on sale, she stocked up.  She had a huge shelf in her spare room that was filled with shampoo, coffee, paper towels, etc.  She never ran out of anything.  She was a much better planner than I was. 

Grandma always had our favorites treats.  Mine was always cinammon toast.  Grandma always had the cinammon and sugar that you could buy already mixed together.  She also used to make me muscadine jelly every year.  I loooove muscadine jelly. 

She always played Chinese checkers with me.  She had one of those cool little chairs that flipped up to show a step-stool underneath.  I always sat on it to reach the table at meal time.  Her phone was in the hall and the cord was long enough that she could walk all over the house with it.  She always had a plastic scarf headcover thing in case it started raining while she was out shopping.  In her purse, she carried a little red plastic collapsible cup.  In her cabinet is my favorite cup in the world.  It's my "family heirloom" cup.  I wrote about it here.  Everytime I went to her house, I listened to the Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas album. 

These are just a few of the memories that have flooded my mind this week.  My precious grandma has battled for some time with Alzheimer’s, has had several strokes and hasn't spoken much the last few years.  She was hospitalized ten days ago.  Today she lost the battle with her body, but won the war of eternity.  She is now with Jesus and while I am so sad and will miss her so much, I knew she is happy and no longer in pain.  I am so thankful that I had the time I did with her and that I will see her again someday.