Strong women- May we know them,

may we be them, may we raise them.

Tales of Quirky Grandmothers

Many of us love our grandmothers dearly, and I am no exception.  My life wouldn’t be the same without these women who walked before me.  They challenged me, nurtured me and loved me differently than anyone else in my life.

There is something endearing about older women though, in that they slightly lack social appropriateness.  I say this with great love. Generally women do fine cooperating with society as girls, young adults and middle age citizens.  But when they enter senior citizen status, women don’t necessarily care what impression they give to the world around them.  Their own priorities are the most important and their own statements absolutely worth air time.  Sometimes their words are so important they need to be repeated many times.  Quality stuff containing very little gray area, only black and white.  Grandmothers well deserve to hold an “I am correct” attitude because they have survived many years of ups and downs.  I would never attempt to change them, especially since it provides hours of entertainment for the rest of us.  Stories from this attitude will be passed down for generations until the tales are no longer remembered.  All of my grandmothers took on this attitude in some way, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

Close In Spirit and Heart

Growing up, I didn’t live close to my grandmothers.  My parents moved to different states when I was young.  I was born in Georgia and grew up in Iowa.  But my paternal grandparents lived in Wisconsin and my maternal grandparents resided in Michigan.  My parents took us kids to see them often, so much that I can say I feel close to both of my grandmas.  All of my grandparents traveled to see us in Iowa for special occasions as well.  Never did I feel deprived of grandparent time.

My husband on the other hand, grew up very close in proximity to his grandparents.  He can say he was close to them because of quantity as well as some quality time.  I can’t imagine the possibility of spending minutes of each day with grandparents, sometimes more than his actual parents, but that is what he knows.  I didn’t have the privilege of knowing my husband’s maternal grandmother very well.  She died not long after we married.  But I did spend time with his paternal grandmother, time from which many stories were born.

Over the next couple weeks, I am excited to tell stories about two strong quirky women from two generations before me.  In the mid-west, we commonly refer to these family members as Gramma.  The word isn’t grammatically correct but spelled how we say it.  So my blogs in the next few weeks will recount tales from my Gramma R and my husband’s Gramma V.

Gramma H- The Remaining Grandmother

Before I sign off, I want to pay tribute to my Gramma whose story is not yet complete, my Gramma H.  When I married my husband 22 years ago, all 8 of our grandparents attended our wedding.  Now we only have Gramma H left.  At 91 years old, she still lives amazingly well.  She is able to walk about her living quarters, drive to the store, prepare her meals, and participate in church services.  She does have someone else clean her living place, but not nearly as thoroughly as she would like.  🙂   As far as health goes, Gramma could rattle off her ailments, aches and pains, but generally speaking her health is good.  She recently had the batteries in her pacemaker replaced which required a minor surgery, but that has been her most serious concern in the last year.  Now she is back home and back in routine.

The sound of Gramma H’s voice still brings me comfort.  It is a voice I have heard many many times both over the phone and in person during my 43 years of life.  She has been somewhat of a mother figure to me always, but especially so since my mom died 12 years ago.  I don’t look forward to the day when hearing her voice isn’t an option.  I will miss it just like I miss my Gramma R’s voice.

Until next week, when I blog about my Gramma R-  a wonderful woman with a big heart and funny quirks.

Jodi M Noord