A Busy Month

I can't believe February is almost over. It seems to have gone so fast. Thinking back it all seems to be a big blur. My sweet grandma passed away at the beginning of the month so between family coming into town, the funeral, and helping clean out their house to sell, it's been a busy couple of weeks. My grandma was a neat, talented lady and I have some great memories of her. A few of my favorites are:

*Playing Dominoes -- the adults ever wanted to play games with the kids. None of them except my grandma. She would always sit down with us and play while the adults talked in a different room. I remember her teaching me how to play lots of games but one of her favorites was dominoes.



*Salon Selectives Shampoo -- my grandma always had Salon Selectives shampoo in her bathroom and when we'd come to stay, we always wanted to wash our hair with her shampoo. This is probably comparable to maybe Suave or something cheap but when I was little I thought it was the best shampoo and I loved how it smelled. I remember a few times for Christmas, grandma wrapped up Salon Selectives Shampoo and Conditioner for each of us and gave it to us along with some money. I never really loved taking the time to wash my thick, long hair but when grandma gave us shampoo I was all for it. I even remember wanting to go up on Christmas Eve and wash my hair just to use my own bottles of "grandma" shampoo.

*Piano -- my grandma was really good at playing the piano and the organ despite difficulties with rheumatoid arthritis. She was always playing and when I got older, she encouraged me to play. I would always plunk out the few songs I knew on her piano but she would never hesitate telling me how good it sounded.


*Splash Mountain Splash of Wetness -- my family has been lucky to travel with my grandparents a lot especially to Disneyland. One of our funniest memories with grandma is at Disneyland across from Splash Mountain. Grandma was waiting for all of us to get off the ride and when we gathered around a funny story was told about a broken pants zipper, etc. Grandma was already laughing and telling us to stop because she really needed to use the bathroom. The story kept getting funnier and funnier and before we knew it, grandma was leaned over, face red, peeing her pants. That just made us laugh even harder. The poor woman, it really was our fault but so funny. I've never seen my grandma laugh so hard. Thanks for the laughs grandma!!

*Greasy Tacos -- this has become a family favorite. We love grandma's greasy tacos. (Just corn tortillas fried in oil with refried beans, ground beef, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and grandma's famous red sauce on top.) Mmm grandma made them better than anyone.


*Whistling -- when I was about 7 or 8 I learned how to whistle just like my dad. A lot of times, I would whistle instead of sing. One time we were on a trip somewhere and I was riding with my grandma and grandpa in their car. I thought I was so lucky because I got the whole back seat of the Cadillac to myself. My grandparents were listening to the soundtrack of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat (one of my favorites) to which I knew every note. I began whistling and continued to whistle the.entire.soundtrack...twice. A few times during my performance, my grandma would say "Wow Emmy you sure can whistle good. Can't she Glen? Listen to her. That's pretty good." It never occurred to me that they probably wanted to tie my whistle lips together for good. I can't imagine having the patience they did listening to a little girl whistle for over 2 hours in the car. I remembered this a few months ago when I couldn't help but smile as my little niece sang some Backyardigans song over and over again in the car. Oh, my patient grandmother with her kind words. I would've shut me up so quick but she just let me whistle away.

My grandma left a great legacy behind... one I hope to follow. For those interested, you can read my grandma's obituary here.