Thinking of Great Grandma

For the past few days, KK's Great Grandma Gladys (my grandma) has had severe pain in her lower back. She was admitted to the hospital yesterday, and it turns out she has a fracture somewhere in her spine and will need surgery in the morning. I guess she took too many wild rides in the parking lot on her new scooter!

In all seriousness, Grandma is going to be 90 this year and I'm sure this is not going to be easy on her. I hope that her surgery goes well, and that her recovery is fast and not terribly painful. Here are some things about my grandma...

1) She was one of eight children. She was close to all of her siblings; only one sister is still alive.
2) She has three kids - two girls and a boy. My mom is the middle child. 3) Her only husband (my grandpa) died in the 60's when my mom was a senior in high school.
4) She never remarried, and never even had a boyfriend that I knew about.
5) She worked hard for years, into her late 70's, as a fry-cook at an old-style cafe in a Sunshine grocery store.
6) She didn't get paid even close to what she deserved.
7) She's a great cook!
8) She used to mail us letters and cards for every occasion, usually with a few dollars.
9) She always signs her cards and letters "All my love, Grandma"
10) I sent her a card once (probably when I was 7 or 8) and signed it "Half my love," and put .50 cents in it.
11) When she asked why I wrote that and sent money, I told her it was so I could have some love left over for my mom and dad. And the .50 cents was for her to buy me an ice cream cone.
12) She laughed.
13) She has a great laugh.
14) She loves to play cards.
15) She LOVES to play cards.
16) She LOVES to play cards.
17) She has played cards so much over the years that her thumbs are curved to the way she holds a card-hand.
18) She likes to win.
19) If she doesn't win, she will be mad.
20) Seriously.
21) She forgets when she wins, but she always remembers when she loses.
22) Daddy adores my Grandma. 23) Daddy likes to tease Grandma and accuse her of cheating when they play cards.
24) She does NOT like this, and it almost makes her as mad as losing.
25) She enjoys doing word searches.
26) Daddy likes to help her. 27) She also loves to watch baseball, and is a fan of the Twins.
28) Up until two years ago, she lived in a small house in downtown Sioux Falls.
29) She had lived there since my mom was a little girl.
30) I loved the smell of her house. It was always immaculately clean and so relaxing.
31) That smell is why I love the smell of fresh brewed coffee, even though I don't really drink it.
32) She bought those mini individual cereal boxes for us when we came to visit, and she had really cool breakfast bowls. I have those bowls now.
33) She decorated her house pretty for Christmas. My mom learned it from her.
34) She used to call me "Dolly."
35) She has six grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and this year she became a great-great grandma. 36) She bought me a complete set of pots and pans when I was in high school. I thought it was weird then, but I am still using the same set!
37) She bought me one of my first baby dolls.
38) The baby doll's eyelids moved, I was fascinated and touched them, and she scolded me for poking my baby's eyes and threatened to take her away.
39) She later realized that I was just being curious, and apologized.
40) It made me feel better and I appreciated her apology, even though I was so little.
41) She and my mom used to perm each other's hair. Sometimes they permed my hair too.
42) She taught me how many "a few" and "several" were when I asked for a "few" of those little spongy-paper-things they used for the perms. She gave me three but I wanted more like seven...I learned to ask for "several."
43) She loves plants, particularly Christmas Cactus. (Cacti?)
44) She used to take pictures of her blooming plants and mail them to my mom.
45) All of the pictures pretty much looked the same, but she kept mailing them year after year.
46) She has a wild side. 47) She helped me move to Colorado in 1999 when she was 81 years old.
48) It was a long drive/ride for her, but she never complained.
49) She rarely complains about anything.
50) I love her so much. We're thinking of you Grandma!!!!