Today while driving Sidekick 1 asked me this question, “Why is God taking all of our people right now?” I didn’t know how to answer her. It made me feel very sad. I don’t like posting all things gloom and doom but it has been a very rough month at our house. We are currently in the process of sending one more very lovely lady to Heaven. It’s hard not to ask why God is taking all of our people right now. It’s hard not wonder if there is something that I have done wrong. It is hard not to question my own strength. It is even more difficult to watch the ones still here with me grieving and struggling. The hardest part..is watching others suffer and not being able to help them.
I am personally thankful for all of the time I have been able to spend. All of the lessons I have been able to learn. Thankful for the memories, the stories and the time. The greatest of generations is moving on. What lessons can we take with us? What can we learn from them to make a better tomorrow?
I just keep thinking of my time spent, and I am so thankful that I spent time with loved ones, eyes open, heart open, and embracing the moments.
This grandma of mine has come to me through marriage. She is the one and only that I got to meet in my time as a Boxall. She has brought so much into my life and I feel blessed to call her mine. She is a woman of grace. A woman of class. She is the woman who when I was young I would have looked up to in awe. I still look up to her in awe and hope that some day I can have just a smidgen of her in me.
She was always presentable. She woke each morning and dressed in fashionable clothes. She kept up with times and ensured she dressed it. She always had jewelry on and most often a scarf. Nice shoes and perfectly curled hair. If you really paid attention you could smell her fragrance, always clean, always floral. Her nails and hair were done weekly and it showed. She was beautiful, stunning, a woman through and through. Even my sidekick could see it.
She had presence and beauty. She stood and walked tall. When she entered a room you saw her. Beauty and grace.
I loved sitting with her. She loved having the kids come to her place. She always complained that it was too small, and she wanted more room. What she would do with more room, I have no idea, but she always wanted it. I think it was because she was accustomed to things and liked them that way.
She loved having the kids come and play. She loved to hear their chatter. She always thought they were the smartest and “so advanced” for their age. She loved watching them dance and play. I love how proud she was of my children. My children were proud of her too. They love her. They loved to visit and spend time in her tiny place. They loved drawing her pictures on post-it’s. You would think grandma thought they belonged in a museum the praise she gave them. I am surprised they didn’t end up on her wall. She had a talent for displaying items as art.
An example…In her room there was displayed a cow bell. I loved having her tell this story because she would laugh the whole way through. On the night of her wedding their friends took them out for night. They lived in Yuma, AZ so they were close to the border in Mexico. They spent much of the night across the border. She said she danced and had fun but her husband was anxious to get home. She too, but in her story it was always her husband who was begging to go. They were kept out the entire night by friends. She said when they got back home to bed the next morning they laid in bed and found themselves itching. Their friends had put some powder in the bed that made them itch, so they decided to turn the mattress over. Upon turning over the mattress they found a cowbell had been securely fastened to the springs in their bed. She goes on to tell how difficult it was for her husband to get the cowbell off of the bed because it was wired on tight. She laughs and laughs. Hanging in her room still to the day is the cowbell and the memory of the wedding night to the love of her life. I love that sass, that charm.
As fancy as she was she always knew how to enjoy a party. She loved her Chardonnay. She also loved beautiful old music. She was funny. She would make jokes and razz people. She always made me laugh. One night when we went to visit and sat to have a talk, she tapped the top of her knees and said, “It’s a girl party, now what should we ladies talk about.”
She had a beautiful home surrounded in my favorite things…real leather bound books. They were so beautiful and she was so proud of them. This is just one way we were kindred spirits. I spent a lot of time with her one week when I went up to check in on her when her daughter was on vacation and we talked about those books in length. She showed me her favorite and even offered for me to borrow them. That was a sure sign of trust. I didn’t, as I knew the love she had for them, but the honor I felt that she would have let me take one of her precious books was something I will never forget. She told me so many stories that week. I wish I would have written them all down but I was too busy laughing.
She was a top realtor in the state of Idaho. She worked hard and was really good at her job. She loved it and wasn’t ready to retire. Her business sense, her understanding of people, and her work ethic made her successful. She truly listens and watches. I can’t remember a time that she ever interrupted me when I was speaking. This is a talent and something totally genuine about her. I would guess that her skills in this area led to her success. That and her honesty.
She adventured in life. She is the adventurer in pearls. She traveled with her husband, she spent time with her family. My husband spent a lot of time with her in his youth and I am thankful for her influence on him.
She is quite the competitor though too. I saw this in her stories, in the way she lived her life, and in the way she related to others. She always wanted to “give” the best. She didn’t realize that she already did. She gave me my mother-in-law. She gave me my husband. Through them my children, one of which is named after her. Really maybe they both are. The way she lived her life and her last name.
I am so thankful for her example. She showed me that I can be bold and beautiful. Smart and humble. Kind to others but care for oneself. I want to be just like her when I am older. Lucky for me I have my Mother-In-Law. A lady rich in class and kindness. One that I am so blessed to have and lucky to learn from.
So to all you classy ol’ broads. I know the best! Take a lesson.
