We spent this past weekend in Mena celebrating the life of my Grandma. She passed away in her home August 13, 2013 (on dad's 53rd birthday). It was a bittersweet time for our family. It was great seeing all of our family, but also strange since it felt like it might have been the last time we would all be in Mena at the same time again. Without Grandma living there, there isn't really a need to go to Mena (our aunts and uncle that live there are able to travel and visit us, which Grandma hasn't been able to do for the last several years).
The funeral home compiled a bunch of pictures together to create a slideshow of Grandma's life. It was running in the background Friday night at her visitation- everyone loved getting to go down memory lane and see a bunch of pictures of Grandpa too (he passed away in 1998). Grandma was sassy, sarcastic, outspoken, and more proud of her family than anyone else and will definitely be missed by many, especially her family!
(Side Note: I love that she thought of Jeffrey as one of her grandchildren. She was very proud of him. When we visited her in the hospital this summer, she said "Here comes the Doctor!!" when Jeffrey came into her room. I can also remember one Christmas where she gave all of the grandchildren Christmas cards, but she gave Jeffrey a present (I am pretty sure he was the only one she shopped for that year)-- a huge can of cashews because she had seen how much he liked them when he picked them out of all the bowls of mixed nuts. Sweet memories for sure.)
We found this in her pantry... it's a notebook filled with recipes. I took it home with me for the week to browse through it and jot down a few recipes. I love having old things like these- it's fun to think about what stage of life Grandma was in when she was copying a recipe into her notebook or gluing in newspaper clippings for things she wanted to try.
My grandma was German (I think her parents spoke exclusively in German in the home?) so I might have to give this German recipe a try!
My Aunt Cynthia also gave me one of my Grandma's rings. I love having something of her's that I can wear to remind me of her and my grandpa. It's a gorgeous emerald ring. Jeffrey is taking it to our jeweler (it's okay to say we have a jeweler, right?? haha) to get it sized for me.
Over the weekend several people, including my Dad, told me that I reminded them of Grandma... And I think that's a great compliment!
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