I have so many great memories of Grandma. Here are just a few:
I will always remember her presence on Christmas Eve. She would come over to our house and sleep on the sofa to keep guard of the Christmas tree. My sister and I would try to sneak out of our bedrooms in the extremely early morning hours to get a glimpse of the gifts that Santa had delivered. We would come crawling down the hallway on our hands and knees keeping as quite as possible and peer around the corner just enough to see if Santa had been there. Just as we thought we were in the clear, Grandma would howl out from the sofa, "You two kids get back to bed!" To this day I cannot figure out how she detected our stealthy moves!
We were always excited to go to Grandma's house on the farm because she would let us pick any ONE soda pop from the entry way fridge. Then in the evening we would stay up and watch Dallas on TV with her.
Grandma convinced me to stop biting my fingernails as a young boy by offering me $5. So surely as a child I wanted to take her up on the offer but then I asked her the crucial question, "Grandma, what if I start biting them again?" She promptly replied without hesitation, "Then you owe me $5!" Believe it or not it worked.
My sister and I always had fun going and seeing Grandma in her trailer park when she lived in Florida during the winters. It was always a treat to see her and she spoiled her grand kids with the best of Grandmas. She would always let us have a few pieces of candy from her bowl of candy that she always had around. She would also let us ride her three wheel bicycle around the trailer park and would chaperone us to the pool on hot days.
Grandma was an unforgettable lady, loved by many people. She was a strong, principled, loyal, loving, well meaning person. For all these fond memories and many more, I will cherish her forever.