Grandma

I've started writing this post a few times, but never really knew how to adequately express my thoughts and feelings. This won't be the most eloquent post (but when do I actually write eloquent posts, come on!) but I need to get it out there.

Sunday morning I was getting ready for church when my phone rang. I saw it was my parents calling and instantly became concerned. I know that the time before church at their house is usually busy-- choir practice, other meetings, prepping dinner, actually getting ready for church... there is always stuff to do. My instant thought was "did Grandma G pass away?". You see, my Grandma G is ill. She has cancer and a bunch of other health problems and recently was told she had a few months left to live. She is my moms mom, and used to live two doors down from my parents until she and Grandpa moved into a nursing home.

When I answered I was surprised to hear my dads voice on the other end. This concerned me even more. Dad doesn't call very often. He told me he was calling to let me know that Grandma K had passed away in her sleep. Grandma K. Not Grandma G. My dads mom passed away. She was a few days shy of turning 91, but this was fairly unexpected. I guess as unexpected as it can be for a 90 year old to pass away. Apparently some bug was going around her nursing home, she caught it, and couldn't get rid of it. She passed peacefully in her sleep.

At first I was confused. Grandma G was the one that a funeral was being planned for anticipating her passing. I had just talked to my mom days before about how she and her sister were shopping for caskets because they are cheaper if you buy them in advance. But this wasn't Grandma G who was gone.

After the confusion wore off, I was sad. My grandma was gone. But then I realized that it had been almost 29 years since my grandpa had passed away, and 29 years is a long time for someone to be alone. Because I have a testimony of eternal families and the plan of salvation, I know that Grandma and Grandpa are together again. What a happy reunion this must have been for them, after nearly 30 years of being apart!

I started thinking about Grandma K and some of my memories of her. She stored her cereal in the oven (at least before she moved into the nursing home) because she never used her oven and was easier for her to reach the cereal down there. I learned that lesson the hard way when I stayed with her one week when I was about 12. I went to make cookies and found boxes of cheerios in the oven. I remember fighting with her in a department store over who was going to buy this shirt I liked. She ended up winning, and I was disappointed. She sent us three separate cards for our wedding, and none of them were cards that actually said anything about a wedding. My favorite was one that said "Thank You" on the front and the inside said "This isn't a wedding card, but it will work. -Mildred T. Krumperman." I'm pretty sure I still have that card, it should be in my box of things to scrapbook, and someday when I pull that box out I will find it and treasure that card forever.

My favorite memory of her is from a time when she was up in Seattle visiting us. We had just been at one of my brothers high school graduation ceremonies and we all stopped at Wendy's on the way home for some dinner. I'm pretty sure I ate a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger, and fries, but I KNOW I drank Dr. Pepper. We were back in the car, and after a few minutes I burped. Not a super wimpy one, but not anything spectacular. It was loud enough that dad heard it from the drivers seat and got mad at me. Grandma turned to me and whispered "If you want to impress the boys sweetie, you need to practice a little more" then she smiled at me. I thought she was the coolest grandma ever after that statement!

Initially it looked like her funeral was going to be this Saturday, but got moved to Monday. Because of things already on my schedule (like my rescheduled follow up with the endocrinologist-that's a post of its own, be excited), not being able to take time away from doing my school work (another post of its own), and needing to save the money to buy a crib, carseat, and other furniture/big baby purchases, I realized it would be a huge stretch for me to attend the funeral. I know I will spend all of Monday thinking about Grandma, and Dad, and my aunts, and my siblings. I probably won't get a ton done, but I think it's important for me to take the time to think about Grandma.

Here is a picture of my grandma when she was younger

And here is the most recent picture I have of us together. I am so glad that she was able to come up to Redmond for my wedding reception, and that Chris was able to meet her. I'm glad that we have this picture, as well as a picture of Grandma with all but one of her grandchildren that was also taken that same day.

I have a few other topics I want to blog about, but I didn't feel like I could write them until after I had written about Grandma. She is where my thoughts have been all week, and I needed to get them down on paper. Love you, Grandma.