We have been living in Belgium for four months now. Reality has set in now that I am here and unable to go back home for important family events. My Grandma Gregory has gone to live in heaven and I will miss her and her laughter so much. Being here unable to attend her funeral has been much harder than I had imagined that it would be. Although it may seem strange I felt compelled to write a eulogy in her memory even though I cannot be there to give it.
Grandma Gregory
My Grandma, but Mimi to some of the other grandchildren. How do you describe the perfect grandma? I know because I had the perfect grandma! Grandma Gregory was exactly my age when I was born…a young 40 years old! Wow, I cannot imagine being a grandma at only 40. I am sure that she embraced this new role in her life with the same smile and laughter that I came to know well.
So lets start there with grandma’s laughter! I don’t have to tell anyone how contagious and wonderful grandma’s laughter was. No matter what was going on in her adult world she was ALWAYS happy and laughing and smiling for me. Even as I became an adult, she never had an unkind word to say to me or about anyone else. She could always see the positive. I now know as an adult that if she didn’t have something positive to say or laugh about in a situation, then she just didn’t say anything. Seems that my grandma was the most perfect example of the Golden Rule.
I remember going to Grandma and Grandpa’s house every other weekend for most of my childhood. Those visits were the highlight of my week! I couldn’t wait to be picked up by grandma and grandpa and spend the weekend at their house. We usually started out at the bowling alley on Friday evening….you all know what an awesome bowler she was! We would eat pizza and then just hang out on her sofa reading books and especially going through the Sears and JC Penney catalogs. Grandma would listen for hours to me telling her and showing her all of the things that I was dreaming of having. Then when Christmas or my birthday rolled around….there were always lots of things that I had been dreaming about just waiting for me.
Grandma had a few toys at her house for all of us to play with and would go to the storage in the back of the house and pull everything out for me that I wanted to play with. She would then get on the floor with me or even roll around the backyard playing with me. She used to take cardboard boxes and flatten them for me and Danny and Packy to slide down her hill in the backyard. Yeah, we all thought that hill was huge when we were little! Sometimes grandma would even pull us up the hill for another ride back down.
One thing I remember about playing at grandmas was that she would let us do things that we would not dare to do at home. I can remember lining up with Danny and Packy at the end of the hallway and running down the hall to flip over the loveseat arm onto the couch while grandma clapped and laughed and judged our flips. She would even pull the cushions off the couch so that we could all jump on them and pretend that the carpet was water….and yes, she jumped on them with us.
Then there were the trips to Ben Franklin. Everytime we visited grandma’s we got a walk down to Ben Franklin on Main Street and Grandma would let us pick out some sort of little toy to buy. Those walks were such a fantastic memory. I couldn’t wait to go for our walk to Main Street.
My life was made complete by having this wonderful woman as my grandma. I cannot imagine my life without having her to love me and care for me. Just as she was there for me when I was a child ready to play or give me a hug, she was there for me as an adult. For awhile I was working really close to grandma and grandpa’s house and I would go see her during my lunch hour. It was so nice to have that time with her, such a good break from my work day. While living out of state, I loved to call grandma and chat and listen to her giggle. We had so many long telephone conversations, we could talk for hours.
Although many of you had a different relationship with my grandma, I know that like me you will never forget her laughter!
Grandma Gregory
My Grandma, but Mimi to some of the other grandchildren. How do you describe the perfect grandma? I know because I had the perfect grandma! Grandma Gregory was exactly my age when I was born…a young 40 years old! Wow, I cannot imagine being a grandma at only 40. I am sure that she embraced this new role in her life with the same smile and laughter that I came to know well.
So lets start there with grandma’s laughter! I don’t have to tell anyone how contagious and wonderful grandma’s laughter was. No matter what was going on in her adult world she was ALWAYS happy and laughing and smiling for me. Even as I became an adult, she never had an unkind word to say to me or about anyone else. She could always see the positive. I now know as an adult that if she didn’t have something positive to say or laugh about in a situation, then she just didn’t say anything. Seems that my grandma was the most perfect example of the Golden Rule.
I remember going to Grandma and Grandpa’s house every other weekend for most of my childhood. Those visits were the highlight of my week! I couldn’t wait to be picked up by grandma and grandpa and spend the weekend at their house. We usually started out at the bowling alley on Friday evening….you all know what an awesome bowler she was! We would eat pizza and then just hang out on her sofa reading books and especially going through the Sears and JC Penney catalogs. Grandma would listen for hours to me telling her and showing her all of the things that I was dreaming of having. Then when Christmas or my birthday rolled around….there were always lots of things that I had been dreaming about just waiting for me.
Grandma had a few toys at her house for all of us to play with and would go to the storage in the back of the house and pull everything out for me that I wanted to play with. She would then get on the floor with me or even roll around the backyard playing with me. She used to take cardboard boxes and flatten them for me and Danny and Packy to slide down her hill in the backyard. Yeah, we all thought that hill was huge when we were little! Sometimes grandma would even pull us up the hill for another ride back down.
One thing I remember about playing at grandmas was that she would let us do things that we would not dare to do at home. I can remember lining up with Danny and Packy at the end of the hallway and running down the hall to flip over the loveseat arm onto the couch while grandma clapped and laughed and judged our flips. She would even pull the cushions off the couch so that we could all jump on them and pretend that the carpet was water….and yes, she jumped on them with us.
Then there were the trips to Ben Franklin. Everytime we visited grandma’s we got a walk down to Ben Franklin on Main Street and Grandma would let us pick out some sort of little toy to buy. Those walks were such a fantastic memory. I couldn’t wait to go for our walk to Main Street.
My life was made complete by having this wonderful woman as my grandma. I cannot imagine my life without having her to love me and care for me. Just as she was there for me when I was a child ready to play or give me a hug, she was there for me as an adult. For awhile I was working really close to grandma and grandpa’s house and I would go see her during my lunch hour. It was so nice to have that time with her, such a good break from my work day. While living out of state, I loved to call grandma and chat and listen to her giggle. We had so many long telephone conversations, we could talk for hours.
Although many of you had a different relationship with my grandma, I know that like me you will never forget her laughter!
The above pictures are of Grandma with each one of my girls when they were babies. Some of my favorite adult memories of Grandma was sharing my babies with her.
So sorry for your loss. We will keep you and your family in our prayers. Thank you letting us have a glimpse of what sounds like a wonderful woman.
ReplyDeleteShe sounds like a wonderful woman!
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