Grandma Louise

A couple of weeks ago Grandma Louise passed away and the first week in December was her funeral, it was a BEAUTIFUL morning and service. It was fun to see all of our cousins from Idaho and that James was able to fly in for her funeral. Her funeral service was privately held and it was a pretty informal program. All of the grand kids got up and shared memories of her, it was really touching to hear about everyone's experiences and memories of her. A lot of them were pretty hilarious.

Here are some of the notes from the memories I shared:

-As I was thinking about all of the memories I have of Louise....I remember when she would stay at our house on Christmas Eve, when she taught me piano, when I would sleep over at her house from time to time, and especially when I would take time to visit her and play cards. 

-I don’t have a specific memory I would like to share today but rather a collection of feelings I always had when I was in Louise’s company.  

-Within the past 5 years or so I have spent a lot of time with weezy (a nickname I liked to call her by)...Whenever I would be having a day where I would be sad, discouraged, and maybe throwing myself a little pity party...one of my first thoughts ive tried to have is that I got to snap out of this and go visit someone to help me step away from whatever it may be that is going through my head...almost immediately I would think of Louise. I would call her up and say I’d be there in the next 20 minutes and she would always say she would love to see me. That always made me feel so good. 

-when I would get there we would always have the same routine...she would always ask if I needed a drink and then I would sit down and we would play rumi for a while (I’m sure many of you might have a similar experience)...I bet she beat me about 90 percent of the time. Other times she would play the piano for me. 

-during our rumi games she would ask me about the things going on in my life, and then she would tell me stories about grandpa and how they met, how her life was growing up, and she’d tell me stories.  She was so easy to talk to, and she would really listen to me. I liked when she would play the piano because i didn’t have to talk and could just hear her play. 

-I loved going to her home because it was just a place that was quiet, almost like time stood still, and it was a house full of everything good. I don’t think there was one corner of the house that had any sort of negative feeling or insincerity. I think my grandma lived a quiet life the last 10 or so years...and I felt such a peace while I was in her home.

-i don’t think she will ever understand the little safe haven she made for me in her house and the Aura of peace she had about her, I think she was the essence of the light of christ...I’m grateful for a grandma that helped me have a place to go to and forget about life for a while. I love weezy.

Everyone talked about very similar things. Most of the siblings spoke...it was so weird to see the whole family together. It made me happy for my mom to be with all of her sisters....I think it gave them some time to build some must-needed bridges. 

I am so grateful for Grandma Louise and all the things that she taught me and the light she was in my life :) 

Cute baby Cody all bundled up