Most of my childhood memories with her include helping her at craft shows (she is very talented & makes wonderful painted wood decorations, painted gourds, cement leaves for the garden, dried flower bouquets, etc.) or tagging along with her to various Garden Club activities. She is a very talented artist, crafter, and gardener!! If I have even a little of her talent in the area of crafting or gardening when I'm older, then I'll consider myself very lucky. :) My grandma devotes a lot of her time and energy into helping out any of her family members that need help; her love for her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, other family members, and friends is abundantly clear. She puts up with having her house filled with guys playing video games all the time, and that makes her a saint in my book! She loves animals and my entire life she and my grandpa have been rescuing kittens and raising them (they live in the country and cats seem to show up randomly to their house and then have kittens). She has an amazing garden that she tends by herself for the most part and a craft shop to die for.
I will always have memories of doing things with my grandma while I was growing up, but I'll also have a lot of valuable experience as well. In craft shows, I learned to deal with money and with people as I helped her sell her crafts. When tagging along to Garden Activities, I learned respect for older generations and a love for gardening and the outdoors. I wish I could say that I have a green thumb after it all, but sadly my plan of having it seep into my psyche through osmosis didn't work out as planned. Now that I am older and want to have a garden of my own, I am reading and learning, and I know that I always have my grandma to turn to for advice as well. Those experiences also allowed me to have a close relationship with my grandma as I was growing up in my formative years, and for that I am truly blessed.
My grandma is a strong woman who raised her kids while moving around for the military (including Africa!) and having a husband who was serving in the Vietnam War. She has been a major influence in the lives of all of her grandchildren as they grew up (my brother & I used to ride the bus to her house after school until our parents could pick us up, so we spent time with her everyday; she also was the one who gave me Jammie Pies), and is a loving & supportive influence in the lives of her great-grandchildren as well. I hope that she has a wonderful birthday & I just want her to know that I love her and appreciate all that she does for me and the rest of the family. I am positive that the rest of the family shares my sentiment as well. :)
Happy Birthday Grandma!!!
(Johnny with his great-grandma, August 2007)
(My grandparents at their 50th Anniversary party, October 2007)
(Johnny & his great-grandma Christmas 2009)
* I will not be participating in Flashback Friday today, because of this post. Visit next Friday for a new Flashback Friday. :)
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4 comments:
Happy Birthday Grandma Pat!!
She sounds like a wonderful woman :)
She is! Thanks Tia! :)
Jess, your G-Mom has been at the ice skating with all of the Olympic skaters this week and last week. But Joseph told me that she did find time to read your blog & she said she almost cried. It was very sweet of you to recognize her for the wonderful person that she is. Love Mom P.S. I am not sure that she knows how to post a comment.
Mom, I told her that I posted something about her when I called her on her birthday. She told me about the Ice skating competitions. I'm glad she enjoyed the post. :) And I also think it is doubtful that she knows how to post, but that is okay. I'm used to it. There are a lot of friends & family that read this blog, but all of them do it anonymously...not too many that are technosavvy. ;)
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