My grandparents both grew up in ID during hard times. My grandpa's mom died days after giving birth to his sister...he was only 2. He was raised by his 4 older brothers and 2 older sisters and father on their farm. He grew up to be a teacher, principal, and finally a professor at MSU Bozeman. My grandma's mother came from England and grew up very proper yet in humble circumstances as well. Great-Grandpa Stan lost the farm during the Great Depressions and honestly I'm not sure what they did to get through. She lost her brother that was about 1 younger than her when she was 12 to appendicitis. She was a stay-at-home mom and taught her children how to cook, sew, play piano, and to be great parents.
They were high school sweethearts.
I remember going to stay at their house by myself a couple of times, and those memories are sweet. They loved to play games, and tell stories. Grandma would always hum a tune while doing the dishes and cleaning up. Grandpa always had a toothpick in his mouth and had a story to tell. They were both really patient in teaching us card games. Grandpa would show tricks with his body: acting like he blew up his bicep while flexing it. He was an avid fisherman. Grandma got really good at Freecell, recording the number of the games that she won. I remember her smell, Avon face lotion that was in a turquoise container. She would let me sit on her lap and we would put our noses together, and tell each other how many eyes we saw. She would play along as I hugged her from behind while she did the dishes, acting as if she didn't know who it was.
My grandpa passed away after 6 years of congestive heart failure. That was really hard although we were mentally prepared. Grandma died after a week of knowing she had leukemia (the kind children get). She made it back to him in time for their anniversary. I was able to be there in Bozeman that last week, and when I said goodbye and told her that I loved her, she still wasn't able to say that she loved me. That was something that was hard for them to say. But I know that she loved me, because for all those years, her actions said it.
The song from Mariah Carey "Miss You Most (At Christmas Time)" came into my head while putting the ornaments on the tree. Those words really had a deeper meaning to me than they have before. I like to think that they still share Christmases with us in spirit each year.
