Today is the day...I think

So today...about fourteen years ago (I think...or was it the 5th), my matriarchal grandmother died (my mom's mom). I has just turned 16, and the two weeks leading up to her death will forever be imprinted in my memory. But I don't really feel like reliving those last few weeks, they were rough (...granted my best birthday ever took place at the start of those two weeks...anyway...) I just wanted to write a few things about her. I am the oldest grandchild on that side of the family...just turned 30...a milestone for sure...and on my birthday there was a moment when I really missed my grandma Wall. I never knew my dad's mom. She died when I was two or something like that. But I knew my grandma Wall very well. As a kid growing up in Palatine, IL I use to spend the bulk of my summers in Utah with my grandparents. I have some of the best memories because of it, and have a great relationship with my extended family (especially my mom's two sisters...who are numbers 2 &3 on my list of 100 most influential people). Here are a few of my favorite memories, etc...I have because of her:

I love school...that comes from my parents as well, but my grandma was a teacher and in the summers my grandma taught school (year round I believe) and since I was out here in Utah without my parents I would go to school with her sometimes. It was there in my grandma's resource class that I learned the "dot system" for doing addition...and you better believe I still use it today!

I also have a deep love for reading, and that to is in large part due to my grandma. When I was little, since I was the only grandchild for a while, I was SOOOOOO spoiled, and one summer, or Christmas, or birthday...I can't remember exactly, my grandma sent me a tape on which she and my aunts and uncles had recorded some books for me. It is actually a true treasure. It has my grandma's voice on it, as well as my Aunt Becky's (who died of Leukemia when I was about four).
I try to be a nice person...nice to everyone (it doesn't always work out that way...but I'm trying)...and I learned a lot of that from my grandma Wall. She was the kindest person that I have ever known.

I KNOW my extended family and I love them...and that has SO much to do with my grandma and her sisters and the efforts that they put, and continue to do so, into regular family gatherings. About a year ago, my Aunt LaRae died. She is one of my grandma's sisters, my great aunt. But in many ways it was really like losing a grandma again. Since my grandma's death her sisters have always been so loving and wonderful...almost like surrogate grandma's. I am so grateful to my grandma for keeping them close so that I was able to have to opportunity to know each of them.

During the summers I spent in Utah each night when I went to bed my grandma would come into my room and tell me stories about her childhood and growing up on a dairy farm, and living with her dad...who was quite a character...I imagine he and I will get along very well. I am so grateful for those moments.

She and my grandpa use to come and visit us when we lived in IL. I remember nights falling asleep with my head on her lap while she and my mom would talk. I don't remember the conversations...but I remember the calm that I felt, and the love that I felt.

I remember one night, we were visiting from Las Vegas. We had recently moved from Palatine. My grandma and I were talking one night in the kitchen and I was telling her about my friends back in Palatine. I was worried about some of them, and wished I was there to help them. I remember she sat there listening, and then gently explained that people are going to make mistakes and so often there is nothing we can do about them. We just have to let them, and love them always.

I also remember sitting in that same kitchen in the summers. I would lay across a counter (that is no longer there) while she would clean the kitchen. We would watch the Price is Right, and which ever soap opera she liked (I can't remember which). I don't know why I loved that so much...but I did. I loved when she would let us use the hose on the trampoline, when she would just sit outside in the evenings after dinner and talk to me. I especially loved watching her get ready at night...sitting in her chair with all her lotions and creams...I remember the smells and the way she would put lotion on my hands while I sat and watched. I remember how she and my grandpa would let me watch a movie with them in their bed. I remember her voice...I love that voice. I miss that voice...and I miss her. I know how lucky I am to have known her as well, and for as long as I did. I am grateful to her because of how she raised her children...I have the best mom in the world, and great aunts and uncles because of her.

She was an exceptional woman, and truly the best grandma a kid could have. Since I really only got one...I think that is why I got the best!