Pages

11.03.2009

98

Last week my Grandma, who is affectionately known as GRAMMY turned 98 years old.
Wow.



She was born on October 27, 1911.1911....that is crazy!William Taft was President!We went down to the Central Valley to help her celebrate her 98th year. As usual, she requested pumpkin pie (her favorite) instead of birthday cake.
Grammy is a amazing. She is my only living Grandparent & pretty much the only Grandparent I ever knew. At 98 years old, she still lives in her own house & lives by herself! At 98! Amazing!

She was born in Oregon, but grew up in Eureka, California.
These were her parents:
Grammy was the 3rd of 7 children.
Here she is at age 2 (she is on the left)
I hope I got her age genes, because it is one of my goals to live to be 100 (triple digits!!!)
At 98, Grammy is still as sharp as a tack. She is funny & witty. She loves sports & keeps up with them. She watches college football all day Saturday & NFL all day Sunday. Love it! She knows players & their stats. It is pretty remarkable, especially at her age.
(Don't worry....she hasn't driven in several years. She isn't one of those crazy old people on the road!
Her '69 Mustang just stays in her garage!)
Her grandchildren & great-grandchildren are her life!
Grammy has 2 daughters,
(my mom being one of them).
Grammy has 6 grandchildren (4 girls & 2 boys)
and
6 GREAT-Grandchildren
(5 girls and 1 boy...well, "technically" 5 Great Grandchildren, but my cousin's wife is due with a baby girl in 2 days, so I am rounding up).
I have the best memories from my childhood going to Grammy's house. Growing up we spent every Memorial Day weekend there & every Thanksgiving at her house. Everytime we go to Grammy's house she has a pot of homemade split pea soup on the stove (even during the summer when it is 100 degrees out!)When my older sister and I were in middle school, my parents let us take Amtrack (by ourselves!) to visit Grammy. I will never forget that trip!I am so lucky that my girls have gotten to meet their Great Grammy, the matriarch of our family. It is fun to see them play with some of the toys that I grew up playing with at Grammy's house. Because if you know Grammy, you know that she SAVES EVERYTHING!!!She has this awesome yellow chair that was my mom's when she was a little girl.

Claire was OBSESSED with this chair & wouldn't stop climbing on it.
I ended up having to hide it in the laundry room because Claire wouldnt stop climbing on it.
Everytime we go down to visit Grammy, she pulls all sorts of "treasures" out of her closets & boxes that she has saved from her childhood or my mom's childhood.
My favorite toys are the old school Little People.
The Little People RV & boat was the biggest hit.I wish they still made Little People like this (but without the lead paint, of course)
It brings me back to my childhood visits to Grammy's house.Gotta love the rotary phone.
Grammy gave me the nickname "Missy" when I was a little girl. She is the ONLY person who can call me that. Grammy makes you feel special & whenever I visit, she tells me that the 4 years I played soccer at Colorado were some of the proudest years of her life.Here are some fun treasures that you will see at Grammy's house.
It is like your own personal antique fair!
Grammy LOVES china dishes:
This doll was Grammy's when she was a little girl. She is passing it to Claire (because the doll has brown eyes & Claire is the only great -grandchild with brown eyes)
My mom and I love this funkuy retro coffee cups, I think they are from the 60's:
So, how does one live to be 98 and in good health?Well, Grammy drinks coffee every morning & has a vodka cranberry every night at 5 for her Happy Hour.So, besides good genes, that is all I got for you!
Happy 98th Birthday Grammy!
Only 2 more years until you reach Triple Digits!
I know you can do it! We love you!

10 comments:

  1. Your Grammy is awesome! I loved this post! I have a close relationship with my Nanny (my Mother's Mom) and it warms my heart when I see my girls interacting with her. We have been fortunate enough to spend Christmas with her every year and I love watching my girls bake sugar cookies with her and use the same cookie cutters that my Mom and I used as children. Such wonderful memories.

    ReplyDelete
  2. How sweet! And I wish they still made the Little People like that too. The new ones just aren't the same.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, that is amazing and so inspiring. I have such a soft spot for grandparents and am SO lucky to still have a bunch of them. Your girls will treasure those pictures of them with her when they are older. And the generations picture is so beautiful. (P.S. I can't believe what good condition those retro mugs are in! I want them!!!)

    ReplyDelete
  4. "coffee every morning and a vodka cranberry every night:" this is the kind of life I'd like to have at 98! What an amazing woman! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. WOW!! She is so gorgeous, she definitely looks chock-full of life! Why do your posts always make me all teary and emotional?! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mel this is so wonderful!
    I love the "generations" pic with Grammy, your Mom & daughters.

    My mom's Grandma, so my Great Grandma, we called her Nana, lived to be 99. And her husband, my Great Grandpa, Papa, lived to be 98!

    They had VERY similar tips to a long happy life... my Nana had a BEER every single day with lunch!

    Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love it, love it, love it! I have just one grandparent left and she is a treasure, though frail and younger than grammy. We've got great-grandmother pictures too and they are something that I cherish. I look forward to you telling me every year about your grammy's birthday, she is awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  8. She beautiful! How special to have such a matriarch in the family and so great that you are getting good pictures.

    Do those Little People really have lead paint? We've got a couple kicking around here...maybe I should make them disappear.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love this! I don't keep anything and this posts makes me wish I kept everything!

    ReplyDelete