May Week 2 - Mothers Day

 My grandmother, on my Mom's side was the only grandma I knew.  Her name was Velda.  It may be an odd sounding name at first, but I love her name!  I can still hear her voice, "Hello Don!" as I walked through her back door and up the 5 or 6 steps and into the kitchen.  The carpet was a 70's yellow and the pattern looked like slices of bread.  Grandma's house was so cool and chic.  She was a chic woman.  Her smile was the best!  And she laughed so much and so often!

I was lucky to have my grandma live just two blocks away.  There were very, very few Sundays when we did not go over to her house.  Her cooking was simply the best.  She used real butter.  She taught me how to eat and love grits, pickled beets and rhubarb.  She tried to teach me how to drink buttermilk, but I could never develop a taste for it.  Her roast beef was delectable!

She worked so hard.  In my teenage years, I would help them mow the lawn and care for the bushes and rose garden.  While my grandpa and I did the lawn, she washed the sheets and hung them outside to dry.  I don't know of anyone today who hangs their sheets to dry.  But in Oregon, you could and the smell of air-dried sheets is unforgettable.

She loved to talk and was always interested in hearing how things were going at school and play.  She never pretended to listen - she was always interested and listened so lovingly.

It was such a sad day for me, when I received the call from my sister and mom and my grandma died.  It was over Labor Day weekend in 2004.  What a lovely woman!

My mother inherited all the wonderful qualities of my grandmother.  Mom was a fantastic cook, worker, talker and listener.  My absolute fondest memories of my Mom are when she and I would talk for hours.  We'd talk politics, religion, world events, scriptures and things around the town.  She was a seminary teacher and so she knew how to get discussion going.  I learned so much and got so much deep insight from my Mom.

She sacrificed a lot for me.  It was she who had to get up at 2:00am to pick me up at school after arriving home from a very long and late bus drive for basketball.  And it was bitter cold at 2am in the winters in Oregon.  Being the last child, and with the school so close to home, I would drive home for lunch often.  She always had a sandwich and some chips and some Oreo's ready for me!  My cousin would sometimes ask if we had Cheetos and if we did, he would want to come along too.  So when we turned the corner at the top of the street, Mom would see if there were one or two heads in my truck and then quickly make sandwiches!

She was primary president when I was an 11-year "Blazer".  I remember this one primary event she organized for Halloween.  It was this type of carnival, with lots of games and treats in the gym.  The carnival was in the afternoon on a Saturday.  She bought bottles of Orange Crush for all the primary kids - it was such a treat!  She had a few extra leftover and I remember getting to drink another bottle that night, while we sat by the fire and watched an NBA game on TBS.

We still talk quite often these days.  I usually call her and my dad on a Thursday afternoon while driving home from work.  She is always so happy to hear from me; I'm sure its the same way with the rest of siblings too!  She is a wonderful Mom!