Tuesday, March 28, 2006
It's been a while since I've updated this blog. Mainly because I've been spending a lot of time knitting, so the knitting blog has been getting a little bit more attention lately.Today would have been my great-grandmother's 98th birthday. She died in 2002, at the age of 94. She honestly was still getting around great and then all of a sudden got sick on a Monday, went to the hospital where she was diagnosed with cancer, and died the next morning. It was definitely the way she would have wanted to go.
I have so many funny memories of her. When I was a freshman in college, she fell and broke her hip and ended up in the hospital for a few months in the town where I was in college. I teased her that she couldn't stand it that I wasn't right where she could keep up with me and that's why she ended up there. But, anyway, every afternoon around 6 pm, I would drive over to the hospital and keep her company while she ate supper and we watched the news and Wheel of Fortune.
Another time I remember was when I was around 17 or 18. My aunt who usually did all of the medical stuff for her was on vacation and my great-grandmother had went into the garden and picked up a 40 pound watermelon that she had grown, and broke something in her back. She refused to go to the doctor for a couple of days and I finally convinced her. When I arrived at her house to take her to her appointment, she had her very worn brown leather bag in her hand. This was the hospital bag. If you picked her up and it was with her, she knew she was in bad shape, but wasn't about to tell you. In it was always a gown, a housecoat, slippers, and a bag of Hershey's kisses. The doctor's office was 1 hour away (she refused to go to anyone but him...I thought he was a quack). So, we made the drive and sure enough, she was admitted to the hospital. So, I was faced at what was fairly a naive age with DNR paperwork, etc. I was scared to death at that point. But, she pulled through and the trip earned me a distinct honor (I say that with sarcasm). She deemed that my driving was good enough (those who know me are laughing hysterically at this point) to be her new chauffeur. So, from then on, I was her ride back and forth to church. That was the only place she ever left the house for.
At the age of 92, she went to Wal Mart for the very first time ever. She was amazed. The garden center amazed her and the fact that they had a vision center, well that did it. She told me to make her an appointment and bring her back the next week for some new glasses. My mouth was already hung open from the mere fact that she had wanted to go to Wal Mart, but to actually want to come back? I was floored! You see, her husband did all of the grocery shopping and the Wal Mart shopping. When he died in 1988, her grandchildren (my dad and his brothers and sisters) started doing her errands. When I got my driver's license, I was added to the list of sometimes-willing helpers. So, she had never been to a grocery store or Wal Mart until she was 92.
I could tell tons more stories that would have you rolling about her quirky behavior and about strange customs which came from being 1/2 American Indian and 1/2 Caucasian in a time where that wasn't overly accepted, but I would bore you to tears. Anyway.....
Happy Birthday Sangie. |
~IntrO~
Melissa-Mom to LittleMan (4/04); wife to LuckyHusband; full-time toxicologist; full-time housekeeper; full-time domestic laundromat manager (washes all the clothes); full-time domestic finance manager (pays all the bills and yells at husband for spending too much money on fishing stuff); and Keeper of the Cheerios. Lives in a tiny town; spends tons of time with family; reads; enjoys crafts. Can change a diaper, fill a sippy cup, and put on a toddler's shoes in 15.4 seconds flat, all while calculating the impact of petroleum hydrocarbons to a nearby surface water body (watch for me in the Toddler Olympics on CBS this fall). Addicted to Dr. Pepper; Kit Kats; and pasta. To spot me in a crowd: I'm the one with frizzy messed-up hair, smeared graham crackers on my shirt; huge purse with a diaper peeking out, toddler on her hip, and camera in hand at all times.
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Confessions of a Shopaholic
Shopaholic Takes Manhattan
Can You Keep a Secret?
Shopaholic Ties the Knot
Shopaholic and Sister
The Nanny Diaries
Nighttime is My Time - Mary Higgins Clark
Trace - Patricia Cornwell
She's Come Undone - Wally Lamb
Saving Graces - Patricia Gaffney
Save Karyn - Karyn Boznack
Rosie Dunne - Cecelia Ahern
Little Earthquakes - Jennifer Weiner
The Undomestic Goddess - Sophie Kinsella
In Her Shoes - Jennifer Weiner
One Tuesday Morning - Karen Kingsbury
The Pot Luck Club
P.S. I Love You - Cecelia Ahern
No Place Like Home- Mary Higgins Clark
The Covanent - Beverly Lewis
The Betrayal - Beverly Lewis
The Sacrifice - Beverly Lewis
The Prodigal - Beverly Lewis
Goodnight Nobody - Jennifer Weiner
The Preacher's Daughter - Beverly Lewis
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No Place Like Home- Mary Higgins ClarkRosie Dunne - Cecelia Ahern
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