When my mom told me that our Grandma had passed away unexpectedly, I didn’t know quite what to feel. Our family is spread out and I haven’t seen her for years. I thought about what my uncle said- that she’s now safe and happy in heaven with our Grandpa. For Grandma, faith was everything, but family was a close second. So, in her honor, I want to make sure our best memories with her are captured and shared.
Grandma once came to pick me up in a bright red convertible she had rented - for no other reason than to have a little adventure for the day. She perched my stuffed animal behind the steering wheel and said, “look, now he’s driving!” and away we went. To this day I still wonder how many speeding tickets that women had stashed away at home.
When we pulled up to a red light, we stopped next to a car with some young people hanging their arms casually out the window, smoking cigarettes, blissfully unaware of the whirlwind about to blow their way from one lane over. Grandma hollered at them, “Hey, hey! I’ll pay you ten dollars to throw down those cigarettes right now!” She then proceeded to share how much
Jesus loved them even though they were committing a sin by smoking.
Grandma had a knack for turning everything into an epic adventure. At just 6 years old, my sisters and I were whisked away on a ski trip to Colorado, complete with husky sled rides. Nothing says “family bonding” quite like being pulled through the snow for hours by a pack of enthusiastic dogs.
When we spent the night at Grandma’s house, something magical happened around midnight. If you snuck out of your room and into the kitchen, you would always find her at the table, waiting for you to join her midnight cracker party. Peanut butter and jelly crackers have never tasted so good as when you share them over a dim kitchen table with your grandma, an exclusive club that just the two of you are a part of.
No matter what time of the day or night it was, Grandma made sure you ate. She also made sure you knew how to make your own food. She taught us how to make bread from scratch, she TRIED to teach us how to prepare the Thanksgiving turkey, and she always had a special treat called “Grandma’s Cookies” waiting for us when we arrived at her house. She gave me the
recipe - handwritten on a notecard of course - but I never quite got them as good as hers.
Grandma understood the power of imagination, and she nurtured it through purchasing the entire American Girl collection for several years. These dolls weren’t just toys, they came with props, outfits, storyboard setups, and endless accessories to transport us to different times and places.
Grandma had a...unique…way of blending traditions. On Christmas, we would sing Happy Birthday to Jesus, complete with a cake and candles. Even though we were Southern Baptist, we would celebrate Passover the same as our Jewish friends. As kids, these mash-ups left us scratching our heads a bit, but Grandma’s faith was her guiding star. Regardless of what the rest of us believed, She somehow always found a way of bringing us together.
As I reflect on my childhood, I realize that our Grandma was the one who taught us to discover joy in life’s simple pleasures and to let our imaginations run wild. Thank you Grandma, for every memory and every moment filled
with love. I hope you get a red convertible in Heaven.
