Memories of my Grandma

It is hard to think that all of my grandparent's are now gone.  In fact, all 8 of our children's great grandparents have passed away.  It is hard to put into words the feeling that leaves.  Kind of a sad, empty ache to think of them not being here anymore, but a thankfulness for their love and lives and for the legacy they've left behind.  The memory of them loving God is a wonderful one.

I'm thinking especially of my Grandma Brechlin right now. She slipped away quietly in her sleep early this morning. A lot of my memories of her are kind of fuzzy - from way back in my early childhood.  I can vaguely remember snuggling in her lap.  I can recall the delicious fragrance of Grandpa and Grandma's home. She had a quick smile and and easy laugh. She usually had some cookies on hand for us grandkids.  She even took the time to make animal cutout cookies with peanuts for eyes and noses.  I can still remember her dense rye bread with butter slathered over it, and the onion sandwiches we had for a snack.  I remember lying on their couch Sunday afternoons, resting while the grownups visited and laughed and the grandpas played chess and jokingly argued about different subjects.  I remember my Grandpa B.'s twinkling eyes when he was teasing us.   He loved to give our cheeks whisker rubs.  I remember making trip after trip to the freezer - they had an ice-maker way back before they were very common, and it was fun to crunch on the half moon shapes of ice.  Those are such cozy, comfortable memories. Feelings of love and safety are falling over me as I think of those early days of my life.

I probably shouldn't mention my memories of riding in the car with Grandma driving :) - she wasn't a very tall lady, and I'm not sure she could really see over the steering wheel.  I guess she mostly got where she was going, though.

After G'pa and G'ma moved away, we didn't see them much.  Colorado was a long way away.  It was always exciting to drive out to visit them, though.  Then they moved back to Wisconsin and we saw them a little more often.

We really enjoyed the short time Grandma lived with us here and then in the assisted living home near us a few years ago.  Her mind was already slipping away, but she was still able to get along pretty well.  I am remembering a cute little story right now while she was living here.  We were at Bible Study one evening and she and Beulah Warner were sitting beside each other. Beulah was close to 100 at the time and was clear in her mind, although just a little forgetful.  Anyway, both of them forgot what the study was but they had their Bibles open.  One of them looked over at the other's Bible and opened hers to the same chapter.  So even though they didn't have the same chapter as everyone else, they were "on the same page" together.

I'm so thankful for what Grandpa and Grandma lived out before my Mom and before us.  We have been richly blessed by their lives.