So my mom let me borrow one of Grandma's journals to read. It spans from Dec '78 to Dec.'82, although she skipped almost all of '79 for some reason. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about her day to day life. Even though I lived near Grandma, I think I took her for granted. I didn't realize what an amazing person she was. While writing this journal, whe was in her early seventies but you'd never know it. She began each day by getting up early and "doing the work", I'm not sure what that could have been because the rest of her day was FILLED with work! She would go for a walk either in the morning or evening. Not just a little stroll, but a walk usually a couple of miles.
Then she would come home and almost always work out in her yard planting flowers, or working in her garden. She would wash her hair and take a bath and bake four loaves of bread and two batches of cookies so she could always have a stocked cookie jar and then go visit someone or go to Safford to pay bills and get groceries and get gas and stop and see a family member. Then she'd go to lunch with one of her friends or on a Special Interest outing. She'd always be working on an aphgan for one of her grandkids. She was always preparing to go to Mesa for one thing or another and would always tell about those trips in detail. She wrote down the prices of everything from gas prices, to how much her meal cost. I especially enjoy her sense of humor that usually involves a cuss word or two. Maybe she didn't mean to be funny, probably not. She was cussing because she was so blamed mad about something. But it's so funny.
I finished the journal a couple of days ago and was literally having withdrawls. I wanted to read more Grandma entries. So I found the binder of copies of all the letters she wrote to Beverly on her mission. (Thanks Bev for copying them). I started that last night. So now she would be about eighty years old. I was amazed to read this entry: "This morning I took my 2 mile walk and got home about 6:00am. I mowed the front yard and hoed a lot of weeds out of some of my flower beds, now I am tired enough to sleep again." She's 80!! What a woman. Didn't we all just have the best Grandma in the whole world? She loved her family that's for sure, and she missed Grandpa terribly. I don't think she thought she'd live so long without him.
I'd like to be more like her.
From now on, I'm going to take more walks and "do the work".
6 comments:
Yes, she was amazing. After a visit to her house, tour of her yard and garden, I always came home wishing I could be more like her. She was always an inspiration.
Becky, thanks for sharing about her journal with us. I wonder if we could make a copy of the journal that could be mailed or shared with each other like the sisterhood of the traveling pants. I think all of us would be tickled to read about her days. What a sweet post you wrote.
What a treasure to read her journal, can we rent it out? I didn't even know she wrote in a journal. I have been flooded with lots of memories of her lately and like you am realizing a little too late how amazing she was, I treasure all the great memories of visiting her and playing there and feeling her love.
Thanks for the post.
I did exactly what you did a few years ago. Loved that journal. It makes me feel lazy, though! I became addicted to reading anything I could find, and it spilled over to reading Grandma Lamoreaux's journal, then Grandma Boren's, then anyone else's I could find. The hearts of the children definitely turn to the fathers. Good post!
I am anxious to read JoAn's copy of Grandma's journal. I miss her!!
I just saw this! I would love to get a copy too! I miss Grandma still so much & think about her amazing spirit almost every day. What a great Grandma she was!
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