livin like a bea...: Granny

Friday, April 12th was a sad day for the family. We lost an amazing woman. Granny raised 8 kids, and she did a damn good job. When I think about how hard it is with 2, I think of how well Granny raised her 8 and think, I can't complain about a thing! She was an awesome Granny and I have so many memories of her. Since she was the closest grandparent we had to us growing up (Nona lives in VA so we didn't see her as often), we used to visit her often. I remember getting to Granny's and her always having a big basket of clothes for me to iron. She never made me do it, but if I wanted to earn a little extra cash, she'd have it ready for me. I always did it. She used to make these jello pies, that were so good and so easy to make. It's funny to hear, from her kids, about how she was the worst cook, cause I always thought Granny made the best Jello pies and the best peanut butter and banana sandwiches! LOL! On nice days in the summer, I can remember taking a few trips to the Corner Confectionery in Highland Park for ice cream. She was the queen at cracking eggs on our heads. No one can do it quite like her, she had the most gentle touch. She used to french braid my hair whenever I asked her and she did it the best. The best memory though, and I know this is the same for many of her other grandchildren, are all the songs she used to sing to us. I never remember being with Granny and not hearing her sing a song. She had such a sweet and gentle voice and I swear she knew every song. My all time favorite was "animal crackers in my soup." I still sing that song today! And I truly that my dad, mom and I all sing lots of these songs to my girls today.

The services for Granny were sad but also brought lots of laughs. She had 8 children and one of them is a priest, who said the mass. He asked if anyone wanted to share a special story or memory about her and it was so fun to hear all of them. We could have probably sat there all day and night going around. Some brought tears, some brought laughs, but they all brought the memory and thoughts of Granny to all of us.

I'm so blessed that my girls got to meet Granny. I may not have visited her as much as I would have liked to, but even Mary would bring them alot.

I love you so much Granny and hope you're loving your new life in heaven now, with poppy. You will always hold a special place in my heart. xoxoxo

Going through old pics to put together collages was fun. This is the Granny I'll always remember.

At my high school graduation in her favorite color, green. In honor of her favorite color, that's what alot of us wore to the wake and funeral. She would have loved that!