Go Hug Your Grandma

I started writing this last night as I wanted it to be done while she was still around and while I like what I have written I feel that no matter how much I could write the words would no do justice to how amazing my Grandma was to me.  So I think maybe it’s best to just leave it mostly finished as it is now and share it with you all.  My Grandma passed away today, but I want to remember her as she was, happy, eager to have company stop by for a chat and exactly the type of grandparent I hope one day to be.

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The last couple of weeks I have watched my Grandma’s health deteriorate fairly rapidly.  It has made me think of a lot of different things.  I know you are not necessarily supposed to have a favourite family member and whatnot but Grandma Barnes is my favourite by a country mile.

We used to live just one door down from Grandma and Grandpa Barnes and as a kid I would be over there fairly often because Grandma liked to spoil me a little bit.  In my youth I knew that at Grandma’s house I would get what I liked to eat for dinner, I would get treats and basically be waited on.

When I would get in trouble and sent to my room at home I used to lean out my bedroom window and wave to her sitting on the back patio where she would wonder to me if I was supposed to be inside.  That sort of ‘Are you supposed to be in your room Chrissy?’ that to an adult would have come across as a bit of chiding but to me was just a question.

Grandma used to work at Drug City which was just a run of the mill drug store and when we were out shopping and would stop in Grandma would always give me some chips or whatever which I thought was so amazing that she could just do that!

I used to go to Grandma’s little house for a week each summer and would watch baseball with her and Grandpa.  In the morning I would go out on the paddle boat and catch a few bass and bring them back.  No matter what size they were Grandma would treat them like they were the biggest she had seen, she would clean them and fry them up to have for breakfast.

I remember she would always be humming to herself in the kitchen, smiling and happy, she seemed to delight in having company and making Christmas dinner (best candied yams ever).

I love my Grandma, and it makes me sad that she will be gone.