grandma chamberlin

at 96 years old my grandma died thursday, february 17th.

i was always "my little Lisa" to her.  then she'd always follow that saying "i have a lot of nerve calling you mine."  but i loved it.  

grandma was so accepting.  and she didn't judge.  i mean she was 96.  she was born in 1914.  she grew up in a different time, she she didn't let the changing time faze her.  she just listened & loved.  

she never saw anything any of us did as failure, even when we did & were embarrassed to tell her.  she just smoothed it over and somehow made us feel ok again.  we were always perfect in her eyes.

she loved beautiful things and fully appreciated them.

whenever someone brought her something (usually food) she always wanted to see it before it was set down somewhere.  she was appreciating it fully.   

she loved her cards.  she would set them ALL up on her tv for awhile and read them over and over again.  when i left for college she mentioned she wanted me to send her postcards.  so i did and i continued so until she died.  when mom, karen, & i were going through some of her things we found a drawer full of cards, just cards.  she saved them all.  

she fully appreciated everything.

she had a sense for the mood of the room & a talent to change the subject.  sometimes she would change it just by telling one of her stories & focusing the attention on her.  or she might ask a completely unrelated question.  or just making a funny statement, her sense of humor was awesome.  subject changed.

i loved it when she did that.

oh but did she have stories.  she loved to tell stories about her growing up on her family's farm (yeah, there were farms in chesterfield) with her 6 sisters.  

i remember playing with her often when we were little and having sleepovers, 

then we'd have wonderful grandma breakfasts.  aunt jemima pancakes or donuts (that we got to pick out) or those orange cinnamon rolls.  she spoiled us good.

she was strong.  she was independent.  

i think that's why she kept fighting so hard against aging.  in so many different ways.  it was so hard for her to let other people take care of her after she took care of so many others her entire life.

i'm sure she's with my grandpa wearing her favorite high heels (she always talked about how much she loved her high heels).  i bet they're dancing to Lawrence Welk.  even when she couldn't walk anymore she'd dance in her wheelchair to Lawrence Welk, her favorite TV show.  "Now that's GOOD music!"

today was my first trip back to chicago without grandma's house being my last stop.  i didn't like it at all.  i really enjoyed that last stop, whether it was 30 minutes or 5 minutes or maybe 10 seconds.  it always sent me back to chicago in a better mood.

Thanksgiving 2010