Wanna Play a Game?

I have fond memories of spending time up at Grandma's house as a kid. We would often find ourselves playing a game. We played games from Othello to Boggle to "Mormon Bridge". Grandma used to point out that she was a Game Grandma, not a boring cookies and milk grandma. (That doesn't mean we never had yummy desserts. It just means that Grandma would rather spend her time playing a game with us than messing around in the kitchen.)

Now I play games whenever I get a chance. Often Jack and I will play a round of Yahtzee as a reward for getting a certain amount of studying done. : )

Tell Me Another Story

This afternoon Mother was reminded of when she was a child sitting after dinner in the breakfast nook with Elizabeth Ann and GA (her brother and sister) asking their mother to tell stories about when she was a girl. They loved hearing the stories and sometimes her mother would say, "Oh, you've heard that one," but they would ask for her to tell it again! Mother said, "She didn't tell all the stories about her childhood!" I guess she was saving those other stories for their aunts and uncles to tell them during their summer visits to Logan!

Do we have a picture of that breakfast nook on Selby? I loved eating off of Grandma's red patterned dishes in that little room with all the windows overlooking the backyard. And I loved opening the old door in the kitchen that used to be the icebox! I always tried to picture mother growing up in that house.

Mother said that after her father left, she was always hoping for dessert after dinner. But desserts were expensive and not had very often after that. She never even thought about calories then! (and still doesn't need to!)

Grandma never gets mad, except when...

Since I did not live close to Grandma growing up I never had the opportunity to see her mad or upset with me, until...

It was the summer I was 11 and came to spend a month with Grandma and Grandpa in California. I had just finished my breakfast and Grandma was on the phone, no doubt planning or confirming something great for me to do that day. At the back door by the kitchen there was the cutest little cat, not much older than a kitten, just mewing and mewing.

So I went the cupboard and got a bowl and poured some milk in it and set it outside for the cat.

Ooops!!!

Lol...true to the patience and grace that embodies Grandma she did not yell or scream but it was very clear that was not appropriate behavior. Many good memories from that summer that I will never forget - also the lesson of how to be gracefully angry. Thanks Grandma!

In Whose Service Are We?

Several years ago, Grandma offered to bring dinner into a family in our ward whose mother was sick. She drove to the house and knocked on the door holding her box lid full of hot dinner items. A family member she didn't recognize, opened the door and invited her in. She was directed to the kitchen and she set down the box. As she started to tell them about the dinner, she was startled to see that she didn't know this family! She excused herself, taking dinner with her and saying that she was sorry, she had the wrong house! How disappointed the "wrong" family must have been to have missed out on a home cooked, home delivered, free meal!

Grandma always tells great stories about when she was a child, in college, a newly wed... and so on. She always says "If I've already told you this story, just stop me," and I always respond that even if I’ve head it before, I want to hear it again. There are always parts of the story that I have forgotten no matter how many times I’ve heard it.

I interviewed Grandma for my history class last year about growing up during the Great Depression and about life during the World War. She told me so many great stories that there is no way that I can remember them all.

I walked by the class Grandma was teaching today at church, and I said that she loves being with those little kids, and I can’t remember which sister said it (I think it was Sister Keller), but she said that the kids all love being with Grandma. We continued talking about it and I realized that is one great thing I have from my grandma; we both love being with little kids, and the little kids love being with us.