{my mom...the grandma!}

{my Mom with her Grandma in 1971

Hey everyone, meet my Mom! 

What it means to be a grandmother….

Growing up my grandmother was the most influential person in my young life.  She always had time for me. She took me to church, the park, her doctor’s appointments and her hair appointments with her. She taught me to bake cookies, make ice cream and grow things. She sewed clothes for every doll I ever owned and even made my Betty Bride doll her own bra (how cool is that for a grandma to do)!

 Each summer, even when my grandfather couldn’t get time off from his job as a firefighter, she loaded my brother and I into the car and hauled us up into the Sierra mountains to their little cabin all by herself.  It wasn’t fancy, we didn’t take any expensive toys and the TV didn’t always work, but oh what fun we had up there. As we prepared meals during the day we kept the scraps in a metal bowl for the deer.  In the evening, we pulled up our patio chairs to watch the sun set and the deer come out to see what we’d saved for them to eat that day. The next morning we headed to the pond with Wonder Bread torn in little bits to feed the fish. Life was simple but good!

But as awesome as all those wonderful times were, I think my favorite memory is of my grandmother, after saying our prayers…(Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep…..) and tucking us in, sitting on the edge of her own bed and reading her Bible.  Night after night she was there when I went to bed and there when I got up late at night to tip toe down the hall to the bathroom, her Bible and her Daily Bread devotional in hand. I have that old Bible, underlined and well worn.

And now, 60 years later, I will pray for my own precious granddaughter. I will take her to the mountains and to the lake to feed the fish. I will make doll clothes and crochet little hats for her. We will plant flowers and play in the creek and I will love her and cherish every moment I have with her. And, I will thank my daughter every day for giving me the incredible gift of being a grandmother!