For those of you who know my family and I well, you probably already know that my Grandma Arwood passed away this week. She was 87 years old. She lived a good life. Made a difference in a lot of lives. I am sorry I can't be home with my family during this time of mourning, and more importantly, this celebration of a life well-lived. Again, if you know the Arwood family at all, you probably have heard a story or two. It seems to be a family blessed with the ability to tell a good story. I know that I am missing out on a lot of good stories. I am one of many grandchildren. We are pretty spread out in our years. I know that we all had different experiences with Grandma. I guess you could call this blog entry the highlight reel of my memories of my Grandma Arwood.
Some of my earliest memories of going to visit my Grandpa and Grandma Arwood involve a telephone that I thought was much louder than necessary. And who knows, I haven't heard that phone ring for a long time, but for some reason it is super loud in my memory. I remember Grandma making sweet tea for Grandpa. We never had sweet tea at our house so it always was such a treat. I remember being afraid of the furnace in the living room because it too made loud noises. I remember spending the night with my sister, Bri and Grandma sleeping on the loveseat in the living room with us. The front door was kind of scary too. Of course, now that I am older, I know there was nothing to be afraid of, but I was just a kid. I remember Grandma and Grandpa coming to Clinton to visit us and taking us to McDonalds. Another great treat for some kids who didn't get to go very often. To this day, whenever I eat one of the plain Hamburgers or Cheeseburgers, it makes me think of them and getting McDonalds gift certificates for Christmas. I would have to say that my favorite thing about going to visit was knowing that I would get frozen grapes. In all of the times I went to visit, expected or not, I can remember ONE time going to the freezer to get some grapes and not finding any. I loved them so much I tried to freeze them at my own house and it just wasn't ever the same. My fridge here in Laos sometimes freezes fruit. This week, I have munched on frozen watermelon chunks, but last week some grapes were frozen-no kidding. I popped on in my mouth, discovered it was frozen and smiled.
Later in my life, when I was in college, Grandma came to stay at our house. It was after she fell and before her new house was finished. I happened to be living at home during that same time. My mom and I used to sing her hymns before going to bed. It was just one a night but I know a few times we forgot some of the words, but she never did. I would take her to Holy Rosary with me when I was teaching P.E. She would hang out with the Kindergarteners. Man-oh-man, they loved her. We always stopped at Caseys on the way home for a Dr. Pepper and a donut. She really liked the Pumpkin donuts.
I hope I never forget her smile. I remember one day we put a red hat that had little feathers on her head. She smiled about it, but you should have seen her face when we put in on my Uncle Jim.-she beamed. Love, Sunshine (Grandma's name for me)
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