On The Other Hand...

How wrong would it be to make fun of grandma's quirky little ways, without pointing out all of the reasons that we put up with the quirkiness? Pretty damn wrong. So I thought good and hard, today, about all of the things that make me love my grandma as much as I do.

1. She has always been very honest and open about anything I wanted to discuss. Even sex. Especially sex. Being a nurse, she has seen and heard it all and freely shares some pretty nasty STD stories. She was the first one to ever talk to me about sex. I mean really talk about it...everything about it. Back when it was brought up, I wanted to puke. But now, I'm grateful that she clued me in, or I still might think that an orgasm was a type of orange juice. Would you like that with, or without pulp?
   
2. She used to take me to Swenson's ice cream parlor and let me get any flavor I wanted. Then we would sit at a booth and just talk about everything. She really knows how to make a grandchild feel special.
3. Until we got old enough to refuse them, a lot of our outfits were made by my grandma. We were always dressed like little princesses, with our matching skirt and vest sets. Then grandpa would take us to the shoe store and buy us the best shoes, no matter how expensive they were, because they were better for our growing feet.
4. We didn't have many rules at grandma's. We could feel free to just be kids. In fact, she encouraged childhood. She would play dolls with us, make us doll clothes and let us girls play dress up with all of her clothes. I think that she was more sad than my mom, when we grew up!
5. We were always welcome at her house. She always had kids over. Some were foster kids, others just loved to be around her and grandpa. They still do. Their house is always open to children and children are loved there.
6. She has a good heart. Just about everything she does, is for the benefit of others. The only thing she does for herself is a weekly trip to the hair salon. Her whole life has been dedicated to helping others. Her and grandpa worked as a team to serve schools, their church and their family.
7. She married my grandpa. She was strong enough to survive without a husband until she met just the right man, even though her first husband left her penniless. She saw something in my grandpa, agreed to marry and took good care of him until his very last day. She gave me the most wonderful grandpa a girl could ever ask for. I will always be grateful for that.

Now that I think of it, I'm a pretty big lump of crap to be annoyed with her request to move the air conditioner. I should get my ungrateful little fanny over there and move the damn thing myself! I'm a lucky girl to have sprouted from her family tree. What a rotten seed I am!