Today is Grandparents Day!

I could not let this day go by without sharing my memories.

Oh my goodness, I loved my grandma.

Just so special to me when I was growing up.

Spending a week with her several times during the summer was heaven to me.  Just me and my grandma!

As a child, and in many ways still as an adult, I was a loner, not many friends.

Grandma was my friend in the early years of my childhood.

I watched her sew, making a pink dress for me by hand, simple, with only a lovely piece of old lace for the collar.

Loved the porch times we spent together, many times snapping green beans for dinner.

No one made green beans like my grandma.

Coffee in the mornings, with lots of milk, in my own adult cup.  Grandma is the reason I love coffee so much to this day!

Love this photo of her because it shows her hands.We would sit side by side and she would hold my hand, I remember her aging hands, hands that I now have.

Thoughts that bring tears to my eyes!

To my surprise, grandma came to a bridal shower my sister had for me, her gift to me, a tablecloth she crocheted.  I cherish that tablecloth to this day.

Grandma loved to crochet, memories of many crocheted doilies in her home as in the photo above.

Grandma came from such humble beginnings, the hills of Kentucky, Wallins Creek.

Love this photo that I recently received.  No shoes!  Me too grandma, I never like to wear my shoes, they come off as soon as I enter my house.

Seven children, losing a beautiful boy, pictured below, at five years old from a horrible accident, and a baby girl at 9 months old from pneumonia.

Heartbreaks I never heard my grandma talk about.

She loved her family, she loved children.

I am sure her best days were those when her home was full of family, cooking, table filled with country food, gathering together, her daughters singing gospel songs while doing the dishes.

Granny came to my home only once that I can remember. She climbed the steps up to my son’s room when he was very small.

Sitting on the bottom bunk of his bunk beds, grandma patiently listened to him talk and show her everything in his sweet room.

He played records for her on his little record player, his favorite, “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly”, by Jimmie Rodgers, she loved every minute of their time together and often spoke of that day.

I never heard my grandma raise her voice in anger, never.

She was just good, kind, and loving, as I feel most folks from country living are.

Memories of grandpa are few, sitting on his lap and the smell of his pipe are the only ones I have.

He was a hard worker, a coal miner, a laborer.

He died young, in his fifties.  He appears much older in this photo, a coal miner’s life was hard.

I could go on and on, the more I turn my thoughts to grandma, the more I remember.

If you are fortunate enough to still have grandparents, give them a gift today of your time, talk to them, learn from them, love them.  You will not regret it!

Wish I would have done more of this with my grandma!

Love you granny, always.

A week or so ago I had lunch with my sister, something we do together quite often.

Just the two of us, we talked, we laughed, and that day there were a few tears.

I love her so.

Before leaving, she gave me a small box, old, torn, held together with a rubber band.

As she handed the box to me she said, “I thought you would like to have these”.

Inside the box, our Momma’s earrings.

Momma loved to wear earrings, matching them with whatever outfit she was wearing on any given day.

No gold, no diamonds, nothing expensive, just her gathering of costume jewelry earrings.

I opened the box and ran my hand across the contents several times that day, closing my eyes almost seeing Momma wearing many of them.

Some are vintage, all so beautiful to me in so many ways.

I immediately knew they did not belong in a box buried someplace in a dresser drawer.

Carefully, I placed them in a clear jar and set the jar on my desk.  A quiet area where I sit and work many times throughout the day.

The sun shines in on my desk area, oh how the earrings sparkle!  Just like Momma when she wore her earrings!

My son commented that he remembered Grandma wearing so many of them!

I am sure all his cousins would say the same thing.

So very sad she is not sitting at my desk next to me.

I thank my sister for this gift, and the many days of joy I will get out of just looking at this jar of memories.

For now, a place on my desk, close to my favorite photo of me and Momma.

Just like photos, I believe in displaying keepsakes, I want them all around me so I will never forget those special times, and folks I love!

Blessings.

Today would have been my beautiful Momma’s 94th birthday.

She was just a simple, Kentucky born girl, who only wanted one thing in her life, to be a mother and grandmother.

Her greatest joys came from her family, her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

So proud of all of us!

Never judging!

How she loved being with all of us, cooking for us, loving us!

No one could have had a better friend or sister, she was ready to help, support, and love when needed, without hesitation.

Mom was an amazing quilter.  She was always sewing, and quilting, until the last days of her life.

I keep her sewing box in my bedroom and there are many days, like today, I will open it and see her threads, needles, small pieces of fabric, and her thimbles.  Momma always used a thimble to sew.

I am like her in some ways, I make my bed everyday, I love to care for my home, I iron everything before I wear it, and I love simple homemade things.

I am not the good cook she was, I cannot sew or quilt, and I lack her unselfish ways.

Love this photo of her smiling at me!

I pray she is smiling down on me today, knowing just how much I miss her and love her.

Happy Birthday my sweet Momma!

Simple, quiet, thankful.

No special, fancy Thanksgiving Day planned today, just my family, me, my husband, and our beautiful gift from God, our son.  A wonderful, kind, caring, loving human being, created by God, and given to us.

So thankful for him.

So thankful for the, “I love you Mom”, he quietly speaks to me every single day.

So thankful for my home, warm, clean, lovely in so many ways, perfectly imperfect, as I love to say.

Thoughts come to me often of those folks, those families, without a place to call home, living wherever they can for the night.  Heartbreaking stories.

So thankful for having a brother and sister, we are close, now more than ever.  That the ups and downs of life over the years have taught us that we will always have each other.  Always.

So thankful for the fact that I now realize God has always been in my life, with me, loving me, getting me through horrible times, to this place I am right now.  He was with me when I did not know Him.

So thankful that I have folks to love, how terribly sad it would be not to have someone to love in your life.  I will reach out to those today, to let them know I love them, that they are thankful gifts in my life.

So thankful for this day, serving our turkey and dressing, at our kitchen table, together, praying, giving thanks with grateful hearts.

I try to always start each day when waking, thanking God for another day, not just on Thanksgiving Day.

Hope all of you take a few moments to be thankful.

Overwhelming love to all of you today!