17 Scattered Thoughts About Grandma Connie

My Grandmother died yesterday at 90 years of age.  Some thoughts…

1. She always called me Danny.  I guess lots of people did when I was a kid, but she never stopped.  When I called her, I had to say that it was ‘Danny’ calling or she wouldn’t have known who I was.2. When I was a kid, my favorite color was green.  I don’t think I ever chose it though.  I think Grandma chose it for me.  I think she liked green.

3. I remember going to visit her apartment.  She always had Polar ginger ale.  Always in a one liter bottle.  I think I might have avoided the other stuff in her fridge (I’ve always hated tuna), but man did I go for that ginger ale.

4. She never had a drivers license.  She didn’t own a car and she didn’t drive.  Except once – a long time ago.  She told me about it and I love that.

5. I admit that I teased her.  She would always ask me about the older people at my church.  I told her that I tease them too.  I don’t think that she believed me, but she should have.

6. Back t0 the driving thing: it was a long time until she let me drive her.  That was always my dad’s job.  I think she suspected that I maybe drove too fast and might have been dangerous behind the wheel.  I have no idea where she might have gotten that idea…

7. Why did she always insist on wearing heels?  I’ll never know or understand.  That she never experienced the comfort of walking in a nice pair of sneakers troubles me.

8. She lived the last several years of her life in her own place after living for decades in an apartment.  It was not a place that many of us would covet but it was hers and that made her happy.  When she moved in, I said a blessing (prayer) over her home and the time she would spend there.  I think that made her happy and I think God honored that prayer.

9. Grandma loved the beach.  She went to Hampton.  She went to Plum Island to visit us when we were there.  I don’t think she ever went anywhere else for ‘vacation.’  I’m not sure she ever wanted to.

10. At her apartment, Grandma had that painting of Jesus standing next to a skyscraper.  Maybe you’ve seen it somewhere else – it’s pretty common.  I don’t know why that’s significant, but I remember it vividly.

11. Grandma liked cats.  I do not like cats, but I never held that against her.

12. When I was a kid, I don’t remember explicitly telling Grandma that I loved her.  But I started a couple of years ago, and I’m glad that I did.

13. Some of us have expensive collections.  Grandma collected things like seashells and bookmarks.  I think she has quite a collection of both.

14. Grandma was a person of faith.  Christian faith.  I’m not sure whether it was an active choice for her to believe or a part of who she was from before even she could remember.

15. None of us really want to die.  But when the time came, She believed that Jesus would take her to be where he was, just like he promised his disciples all those years ago.  I believe that too.

16. Grandma loved my boys (her great-grandchildren) and asked about them every time we talked.

17. As I think of these things, I’m sadder than when I started.  None of them are sad, but I loved my grandma.  I miss her.  And at the risk of sounding cliche, I do look forward to the hope of seeing her again.

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