Grandma

To me, she was always Grandma. She was the kindest, yet toughest person you'd ever meet. She enjoyed giving to anyone she could and had a love for quilting, sewing, painting, crafts, gardening, and cooking. She was always making quilts and blankets for anyone and everyone she could. If you attended her church and were expecting a baby, just know she was already making a baby blanket for your new arrival! Acts of service were her love language. At the same time, she was determined, strong-willed, and tough – traits I'm sure I inherited from her!

Many of my childhood memories are from Papa & Grandma's lake house in Tawakoni or with Papa & Grandma right by our sides. They never missed anything with "their girls". I have so many memories at the lake house, from jumping off the neighbor's dock into the lake to 4th of July parties every year, lighting cattails on fire with Papa by the lake and making Grandma worry, and even building a snowman one year! Grandma always had a garden in her backyard with tomato plants and I remember helping her pick the tomatoes, but the ones I picked never made it back to the house! They were the most delicious baby tomatoes you could ever eat! If we were there, you could always find me with my Papa sitting on the 2nd story deck watching the sunrise and reading the funny papers while Grandma and Haley were inside getting breakfast ready!

I was my Papa's girl, and Grandma knew this. She later let me know she was always jealous of the attention I gave my Papa, but she always told me she was so thankful I had that special time with him before he suddenly passed away in 2004 and that she and I were able to grow our relationship later in life.

Fast forward from my childhood memories, I have so many more memories with my Grandma in my adult life. She's always been there for me. No amount of miles could keep us from a quick chat on the phone about everything going on in our lives.

To my oldest son, Aiden, she was "my Grandma in Missouri". The two of them had such a special bond. Anytime we visited, it didn't matter if Aiden was 3 or 12, the two of them were inseparable! He would walk next to her while holding her hand, he HAD to make sure there was a seat for him next to her at the dinner table, and he would just chat on and on about the latest Hot Wheels, Pokémon, or video games he was playing. Grandma never quite understood what he would be talking about, but that never stopped her from being interested in what he had to say and listening intently to him.

She enjoyed walking with Aiden outside and showing him her garden, teaching him about all the different plants she was growing, and watching the squirrels and birds. It didn't matter if it was a small backyard or a large park, they would walk around for hours chatting if they could.

She also enjoyed showing Aiden all her quilting fabrics and works in progress. It always amazed me that a boy, who normally had no interest in those things, was always interested when it was Grandma who was showing him. He just enjoyed spending time with his "Grandma in Missouri" any chance he could, no matter what they did together.

She was always very proud of "her girls", but that very quickly changed to "her boys" with Aiden, Jaxon, and Easton – her great-grandsons, always with an emphasis on "great"!

I can’t end this without mentioning her love for her dogs. There were many others, but the two I remember most were her Blue Weimaraner, Blue Velvet, and most recently her “white fluff ball”, Kandi Kane. I remember when Grandma got Blue as a puppy, the cutest little puppy, who very quickly grew to be just as big as, or bigger than Grandma! I told her she was crazy for having such a big dog, but Grandma loved Blue and Blue lived her best dog life with Grandma until the end.

Grandma was heartbroken with the loss of Blue, she missed her friend and always had plenty of love to share. That’s when she adopted her “sweet Kandi Kane”, the miniature schnauzer – a much more appropriately sized dog for Grandma! Grandma spoiled her dogs and I think her dogs spoiled her even more. I know Kandi would sit in her lap every day and watch TV, then they would go squirrel and bird hunting together in the backyard!

I could write pages about my memories with Grandma, but what I know for sure is that she loved her family more than I could ever put into words, and we loved her even more back, times infinity.