- How in the world did you manage day in and day out with six little children to care for?!
- Did you ever have post partum depression?
- How did you manage to bake all your cookies and breads and the many, many suppers for your family on hot and humid days with no air conditioning?
- Did you ever worry about Grandpa's safety at the gravel pit?
- Did it catch you off guard when Grandpa would inform you that he invited so-and-so over for dinner or for the weekend?
- How did you entertain guests in your home when your kids were small?
- Was there always a poem forming in your mind about something?
- If you could have had a career outside the home, what would you have chosen? Would you have pursued something with writing?
- What's your secret for that yummy tomato sauce that you put on everything? Cabbage, sarma, rice, etc?
- What kind of pressure did you feel as an elder's wife?
- Did you go to church looking to see who needed an extra touch of love that day? It seems like everyone has a story to tell about how you reached out to them in some way.
- Were you ever so frustrated with Uncle Ken and Uncle Russ and wonder why they acted like such boys?! (I could really use some tips on bringing up boys from you! Yours turned out so well and I would love to use the same model on mine!)
- Did you enjoy when your grandkids would be over for the day, interrupting your work and keeping you more than busy undoing all that you had already done?
- What gave you the idea to start writing in a little notebook all the little things that your children and grandchildren said and did that was cute and noteworthy? I've started to do the same, and it's so precious even now to reread what the boys have said and done. I took the idea from you!
- When someone showed up unexpectedly for supper, what was your secret in making sure that they didn't know you weren't prepared for more? It seems like there was ALWAYS someone at your house for a meal or overnight.
- Did you ever feel like complaining even a little bit when you felt you were overwhelmed? I never heard it!
- After we would go home, would you still be singing childrens' songs in your head?
- Did you ever go outside and just scream in frustration?!
- Did you have a consistent quiet time when the children were little?
- Did you ever wish that Grandpa didn't want to plant such a big garden?
- Did you ever have a say in what he planted ... or how much?
- Did you ever offer the bounty of the garden to others because secretly you didn't want to can or freeze it all yourself?
- What was it like for you to watch your grandkids grow up, see their accomplishments, see them as adults, and hold some of THEIR kids?
- Did you know me when we were there in April? I know you smiled at us and talked with us, but somewhere deep down, did you really know it was me?
- Did you wish that you could just leave your body already and go to be with the Lord a long time ago?
- How did you find the time to make hundreds and hundreds of Russian Tea Cakes?! And they were so perfect! Mine never turn out like that!
- How often did you draw a blank on what to make for supper that night?
Every day I think of more and more questions I wish I could ask you. I won't be able to ask you these questions, but I like to imagine talking with you and hearing all your secrets to a long and fullfilled life. Your life has impacted me so greatly, Grandma. So many little comments and sayings that you made over the years ring in my mind when I'm in certain situations. There were times as a teen when I was frustrated with you, like when you asked us why we didn't have nice hairdos like certain other girls at church, or the time you pulled out a pair of scissors and asked Roger if he needed to go into the bathroom at church to use it on his hair. We laugh at those times now, but as a teenager they burned into our memories. :) Now as a wife and mother myself, I cherish those few conversations I was able to have with you when I asked your advice on something I was making in the kitchen, or what to do with a crying baby.
It was sad for me a few years ago when I called you to ask your opinion on one of your cookie recipes and you struggled to confess to me that you couldn't answer because you didn't even remember ever making them. And then as I would come back to visit you and realized first hand that even though you seemed to know me, you didn't really. What a blessing at Aunt Janet's funeral when we walked in with Stephen, you looked right at him and said, "Stevie!" I had to turn my head to hide the tears that even though you didn't remember who I was, somehow you knew who my baby was! It was really hard to see you this past spring because I knew it could very well be the last time I would see you here on earth. I'm sooo thankful that my memories of you as a vibrant and loving grandmother far outweigh the realization that your memory would not allow you to know us any longer.
Wow. I've been blessed to have you as my grandmother for soooo long! I will miss you terribly, Grandma, but I also believe that we didn't take our lives together for granted! Don't worry about my unanswered questions. I take comfort in asking them to myself and imagining what you might have answered. Thank you for giving me more answers in my life than questions! Thank you for living out the way to aquiring most of the answers in my life. Thank you for being a true Proverbs 31 woman, and a daughter of the King who taught her daughters to be the same, and they taught their daughters to be daughters of the King! You have definitely fought the fight, finished your course and have kept the faith. What an example to all of us!
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