Like sunshine and rain. I know. That title made me sing Rob Base, too. However, it has been a case of joy and pain around here. So, I'll start with the joy.
My niece Sydney graduated from high school on June 6th. Mind you, she is my ex-husbands niece, but as we see it, you divorce the person, not the family. We drove out to Dayton to attend the ceremony, and celebrate afterward. I can't believe the little blonde girl that used to ride her tricylce on the shared stoop is a woman now. And the great news is that she has been accepted to Wright State to major in film. My niece will one day be a famous film producer. One day, she will be wearing something that I have hand knit for her at a red carpet premiere of one of her block buster movies. lol.
Now for the pain. At 3:30 on the afternoon of the my niece's graduation, my grandmother passed away. She was very sick, for a very long time. We knew it was coming, we were just hopeing it would be a while in the coming. She lived a long, full life, though. She was 76 yrs old. I remember spending so many weekends with her. But she wasn't your typical grandmother. We didn't bake cookies too often, and she didn't teach me how to knit or crochet. No, what my grandma taught me was how to play poker, and clean up at it. And how, when I was really little, to drag out my piggy bank when the boys came over to play poker, that way they would help to fill it up. lol. I had the kind of grandma that (as stated) played poker, drank beer, cursed like a sailor, and always had a cigarette in her hand. She loved a good practical joke. She loved to go fishing and camping. I remember how her and her best friend would rent a cabin on the Big Darby river every summer. How we used to go swimming in the river, which was about 300 feet from the front door of the cabin, and that was the late '70's, so we didn't have to worry about polution in the river. I remember going to Sea World in Cleveland for my 12th birthday with mom and grandma. I remember her reluctantly letting me use her car so my mom could teach me to drive a stick shift when I was 16. Which didn't work, I still can't drive a stick shift too well. I remember her getting married to one of her long time friends in a double ceremony, the day before my 17th birthday. And I remember how proud she was when each of my girls were born. I look very much like her, I have her bad attitude, and from the pictures they showed at the funeral home, I got my red hair from her. I miss you, Grandma. And I love you.
In Loving Memory of
Josie
1932-2008
1 comment:
I had commented on this, I guess Blogger ate it or something.
Sorry to hear about your grandma, but she sure sounded cool and fun! A lot of grandmothers aren't like grandmothers used to be at all. Mine were very religious. Of course nowadays a lot of them become grandmothers younger, so I guess that makes a difference, too.
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