Regular Grandma

July 9th would be Regular Grandma's birthday. I miss her everyday. From little things like the way her lotion smelled to bigs things like long talks on walks on gravel roads. She in her Keds, me in my Nikes. Until I got her to wear Vans.

Coolest. Grandma. Ever.

She was a poet and always encouraged me to be a writer. Turns out starving writer wasn't the direction I wanted to go. I do think she'd like most of my posts - if they didn't contain the occasional profanity.

When she'd write something, she'd get out the blue electric typewriter. I think she'd be amazed that I wrote and posted this from a phone.

Below is her eulogy. It's not enough but it's all I can do today.

~~~

I know that a lot of people think that they have the best grandmother.  They'd be wrong.  They can't because I had the best one.  

We called her Regular Grandma.  Not because she was regular but because we had a lot of other grandma’s:  Green Grandma, Great Grandma, Grandma Gladys.  Jeremy, Derek and Drew had Seattle Grandma.  So she was just regular.  Regular Grandma.  

She grew up in Seattle and worked for the Army during the war.  She met our grandfather there.  It must have been the incredible Henley charm that got her, with her severe hay fever, to leave Seattle for Hay, WA.

When my mom and uncles were young, she would set snacks out after school.  What was there was what they got.  Even if they were 'starving'.  

When we were kids, we could get our own snacks, but we were warned when we headed to the kitchen.  "Don't spoil your dinner".

When the great grand kids arrived, it was a whole new world.  One afternoon she got Oreos out for Henley and Cole.  After they each had one, she gave them two more - one for each hand.  When I reacted in horror that she was aiding them in spoiling their dinner, she rolled her eyes and said, "Relax.  It's not like I'm giving them marijuana."

Holding a baby. One of her favorite things.

There was nothing regular about her.  She was a fun grandma. On a dare she rode my BMX bike up to Filan's.  Probably because I was so shocked when she said she could ride a bike.  There was no way she'd not prove it to me.  

She loved teaching us things and reading to us and with us.  I know my love of reading comes from her. 

Once on a long trip in the motorhome she spotted a historical marker.  Pioneer Woman's Grave.  She loved history and wanted us to love it too.  Pioneer women don't have graves with easy freeway access.  We barreled down a narrow dirt road with grandpa at the wheel.  

Any moment with them was a teachable moment and I learned a couple things that day.  1) being a woman on the Oregon trail was tricky business and 2) how to back a 30 foot motorhome a couple miles down a narrow dirt road.

There are a lot of things people probably don't know about my grandma.  On top of being kind and generous, she was hysterically funny. She would laugh so hard that she couldn't breathe and it was contagious. 

She made the most amazing bread and cookies.  She found a mammoth tooth. How many people can say that about their grandma?

I was very fortunate to get to spend Tuesdays with her when I was young. (And a lot of summers and breaks.) I can remember sitting up on the green kitchen stool counting cups and teaspoons for whatever she was baking that day.  I bake many of those same recipes now.  They don't taste the same.  I don't know what ingredient they are missing.  But, I can tell you it's not tangible.