Amazing Grace

No, I'm not going to discuss the old go-to hymn, although it is a marvelous song. This post is about my Grandma Grace.

Today would have been her 81st birthday. There's not a day that goes by that I don't miss her, but it's especially true this time of year. In addition to it being her birthday, my grandma loved Christmas time and Thanksgiving. I'm guessing it had something to do with the whole family getting together. As much as we've expanded in numbers throughout the years and as many of us have moved around and away, we still get together for the holidays. But that's another post.


My grandma was an amazing woman that brought up an amazing family. Check it.

Count them. There's 8 kids there. Those are my aunts and uncles and the youngest there is my mom. A whole gaggle of very interesting individuals. A perfect example comes from one of my first clear memories of my Grandma - her 60th birthday party.

Yes, those are bras hanging from the fireplace mantle. Apparently, every time someone asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she said bras. So, my aunts bought about 5 or 6 bras and hung them from the fireplace in the party venue. I was only 5 at the time, but I'll always remember the bras. You definitely can't say our family lacks a sense of humor.

Grandma was quite a sexpot back in the day.

Check out that hotness. And although she grew older, she still retained her beauty.

Oh yeah. Grandma was a bartender for a while. Now that's a cool grandma. Not many people can say, "My grandma is a bartender," but I could. Even after grandma retired and got a little older, she never lost her spunk.

"The old girl's still got it!"

 This is largely how I remember my grandma. When I was a kid, I would stay with her for about a week or two each summer. She lived in our town for a couple years, so I would often go to her house to hang out and sometimes spend the night. I remember one time I spent the night with her and we made cookies and candies and stuff for Easter, and then she let me stay up late to finish watching In The Heat of the Night. I was 8. I don't know why I was even into that show. She was that kind of grandma, though.

Me (Age 9ish), Grandma, Aunt Donna, and Mom. I recall playing Trivial Pursuit at some point on this day, and I actually did quite well for a kid.

She had a very set routine. She would wake up around 8ish. Watch the news, watch Regis and Kathy Lee, watch the Price is Right, and then whatever she could find on TV. At night, she'd watch the 11 o'clock news and then go to bed. Spending a week with this in a one bedroom might sound like a nightmare for a 10, 11, or 12 year old, but I loved it. Aside from the fact that grandma was flat-out awesome, she was also an amazing cook. She was one of those that subscribed to the "you will eat what I put in front of you or you will go hungry" frame of mind. I was a very picky eater as a kid, but staying with grandma really broadened my horizons as a potential foodie.

Unfortunately, she had a massive stroke when I was in junior high. It changed her life as well as all of ours in one night. She did ok on her own for a little while, but eventually ended up in the nursing home.

She greeted everyone the same when you would visit her. I can still hear her with her slight Kentucky accent, "Hi!! How are you?" Sometimes, when you'd answer and ask her how she was, she would say, "Ok, I guess. How are you?" She wasn't senile. She just cared a lot about people.

She was still able to get out for family get-togethers and such. But every year, it got more and more difficult for her to make it. So it meant the world to me that she was able to make it to my high school graduation party.

At some point she started crying pretty much every time she saw any of us. It always eventually rolled into laughing though. That was who she was. My Grandma Grace was one of the most caring individuals I've ever known. She didn't judge people. She never knew a stranger. I don't think I fully understood this until her funeral. There were just as many people there who I never knew as there were that I did. It was because if you came within her orbit, she welcomed you as a friend and often times even family no questions asked. It is my hope that I can be half as kind as Grandma was.

One of my biggest regrets in life is not visiting her more the last few years she was with us. I was in college. I started putting so many other things before her, and it killed me to see her condition gradually deteriorate every time I did see her. But whenever I did come to visit, she never passed judgment. Ever. She was always just glad to see me. And that's why I loved her so much.

So here's to you, Grandma Grace. We miss you just as much now as we did the day you left us. We love you!

And because I know some of my family will read this and will likely be crying. I'm going to end with something that I know will make them smile.

I don't know if Mom took this because she was proud that I made my own bed or what, but this picture cracks me up just the same. Stylish. NKOTB. Raggedy Ann.

This was one of the more traumatic events of my childhood. I got poison ivy on my face right before a family reunion, and just about everyone has a picture of it somewhere. Now the whole world does.

Peace.