In Memory of Grandma

A few weeks ago, I saw a bag of Lifesavers. I was reminded of Grandma, so I bought the bag, sort of on an impulse. I didn't open them, though, until today (or technically yesterday, May 17). May 17 was her birthday. She was almost 100 years old when she passed away. I was in the room when she died. It was more peaceful than I would have expected. There is kind of a neat story behind her death. She wasn't ready to go for a long time, even though she was quite elderly. She had spunk. She had a desire to love. To give. To serve. To make blankets for people, even when her eyesight was going. But, I believe it was the night before she passed away, she had a dream about going to heaven, if I remember correctly. After the dream, she desperately wanted to talk to the chaplain about this dream. Then, she was ready to go. It didn't take long after this. I wish I remembered the details of the dream. I know I heard the story. Something in the dream made her feel ready to meet Jesus. I often regret I didn't make the effort to learn how to communicate in Low German. She was most comfortable speaking this language. Instead, she spoke to me in German, and I spoke to her in English, and we conversed quite well. Grandma lived in the same town as us, just 2 streets over, so my sister and I often went to Grandma's on our bikes. I remember trying different foods she made - homemade raspberry juice. I liked that, but I remember Julie wasn't so fond of it. Her yummy cookies, especially the white ones with icing and coconut. Kielke and gravy. And I remember the cookoo clock. I'd still like to have that one day, but I guess it went to someone else. I remember her laugh and her crinkly eyes. She was a beautiful person, inside and out.

Lifesavers are a symbol of Grandma. Every time we went to her place, she gave each of us kids a 3-pack of Lifesavers. Sometimes a few packs. We all had our favourites. Mine was yellow, I believe Julie preferred orange, and I believe Casey preferred red. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but we rarely fought over the colours, because sometimes we had to share packs. Or, we gave our least favourite colours away and collected all the candies from the packs in our favourite colours. I remember sharing Lifesavers with my cousins, particularly one cousin. Maybe next time I see her, I should bring my bag of Lifesavers with. :) My favourite Lifesaver colours are yellow and orange. Today, I savoured the flavours. I remembered and I am remembering as I type. I have happy memories. And I also really tasted the candies. I noticed the orange ones have a sourness to them that I really enjoy. The yellow ones (particularly the lemon ones) do as well. Hmm ... maybe that was the beginning of me loving sour - anything. Lemons, candies, juice. No, not anything. Lol. Sour milk, which I also had today, is not particularly enjoyable! I'm laughing just thinking about that. Anyway, I digress. I don't have any pictures to share of me and Grandma, or even of Grandma herself. I wasn't into taking pictures as much back then. But I want to say, I love you Grandma. And Lifesavers will always remind me of you!