Bag O Cheetos: Tribute to Grandma C

There are so many things I have remembered about Grandma in the past few weeks. I never got to know my Grandma B like I did Grandma C. Grandma B past away from a brain tumor when she was in her early 60's. Of course, I still thought that was old. She was a grandma after all. However, now that I'm almost the age of my mom when she lost her mom. I have to say, she was not that old at all! Actually pretty young. Grandma C was probably THE MOST kind and loving woman will you ever have met. She NEVER talked bad about anyone. Of course, we all know she thought it at times, but unkind words never left her lips. I can only think of one occasion where she spoke ill of someone but it was because of ignorance rather than really knowing them. She quickly apologized and that was it. She was THE GREATEST cook. I LOVED her BLT's. To this day I can't eat one without thinking of her. She knew I loved bacon and tomato and had them always on hand so I could have one when "I" felt like it. She also knew each one of my siblings favorite treats and had them out and a spare bag just in case. For me... it was cinnamon bears. I really enjoyed that they lived across the street from the school and church. This made a safe haven for all of us kids to go on lunch breaks, after school between practices, while mom and dad had church meetings so didn't want to wait in the halls. I always thought it odd that she never said good-bye. Even when I would call her on the phone, she would end the conversation in 'alright'. And when we left leave their house, on cold days she would stand behind the screen door, say "come again", and wave until we couldn't see her, on the good days she would stand on the porch. Sunday dinners were always fun, especially when we were younger. She would have this fancy lace aprons she would let Alyssa and I wear and pretend we worked in a restaurant. They had a kitchen bar thing in their basement we would play at for hours as well. Grandma would let us take cookies, crackers and water down and pretend down there as well. I believe it was Grandma's basement that made me afraid of the dark. You had to walk down a long dark hallway to get to the light switch. Kyle use to think it was funny to hide and scares us down there. I loved taking naps on her leather couch. It just had an extra comfyness about it. My room was always the green room. Alyssa stayed in the pink and Ryan in the white. It's like we had a home away from home. I remember lots of bowls of brown sugar. Yep- plain brown sugar. I know my mom wasn't crazy about us eating straight sugar but we loved that Grandma gave it to us. For awhile Grandma and Grandpa stayed in a trailer in our backyard. Now that was AWESOME! I remember watching the Price is Right over there almost daily. I can still remember sitting up against the window on the back of the couch doing her hair while we watched it. She would ask Alyssa and I regularly if we wanted to do our nails over there. She had an open cupboard of cosmetics and such for us to play with. We all, at one time or another, mowed their yard. Even though we were teenagers, she was so nervous about us driving the mower in the ditch so she would sit on the porch or look out the window watching us the entire time. I also remember that she LOVED MATH! She was so good at it. Anytime I went over there and did homework, she was ask, "You have arithmetic?" She really just wanted to look through our text books. She was always good help too.
Her and Grandpa came to almost every home game, play, dance performance or awards assembly. They supported us as much as our parents did. Grandma never spoke much doctrine but you knew she lived it. You just knew. She had such a presence about her. She showed me through example that you don't have to be able to quote scripture and doctrine to be a excellent member of the church. The quiet sister in the corner has just as good as testimony as the one that stands up and bears it all of the time.
Thank you Grandma for all the years of caring for us. You were definitely one of a kind We were blessed to have you a part of our lives! In the words of A1, Love you Much and we know that you are happier where you are now with Grandpa!