Grandma

My Grandma died early this morning (my Dad's mother). She was my last living Grandparent. They took her to the hospital Wednesday morning, as she wouldn't respond. I got there late in the afternoon because I was driving back from Peoria, IL. She was basically just asleep. She stayed that way till 4:30 this morning when she died.

Grandma has been in a rest home for a long time. I'm not sure how long but I would say at least 15 years. She hasn't been the Grandma I knew since then. She hasn't had much of a mind since then, so it wasn't a shock when she died. We've expected it for a while.

Grandma had a very hard life. My Grandfather left her with 3 little kids, so she they had to live with her Dad who could barely make ends meet himself. So needless to say they grew up extremely poor. My Dad shows me all the places they lived when he was little. He says they literally had to move about everytime the rent was due. Through all this they made it.

Before Grandma's mind got bad, she was the happiest person in the world. It didn't take much to entertain her or make her happy. She lived in a very small house without A/C. We bought her a window unit, but she never turned it on. It made her cold. She was the Grandmother I would run to when I didn't get my way, needed something, or just wanted some spoiling. I never did any wrong in her eyes. She just couldn't believe I had done anything wrong when my parents would spank me. I knew where to run after I got in trouble.

Before she went to the rest home, she would come to our house to eat every Sunday after Church. This was one of her favorite things to do. Everyone would be done eating at 1:00 except Grandma. She would stay with it till about 2:00. She was a slow eater and she thoroughly enjoyed every bite.

When I started playing the guitar, she loved to hear me play. I would play Amazing Grace, Victory in Jesus, I Saw the Light, and then Here's a Quarter Call Someone Who Cares. An odd combination, but that was her favorite songs. We hummed though the D word in the Quarter song.

She wrote her memoirs some years ago. I'm going to look for it and hopefully post it in the next few days. It is really neat. It is rather long, but hopefully I can get it posted.

My Aunt and cousins will be coming in from Chicago tomorrow. She was just down last weekend, so that's good she got to see her Mother one last time.