RIP, Grandma/Great Grandma H!

I've been missing in action this week, due to my running around the state again.

My sweet little Grandma, who was 95 years old, passed away on Monday night and the funeral was Thursday in Duluth.

I was so sad this week, and just didn't have the mojo to blog, or really be all that informative.

It was pretty much expected, as she was really fading the past year or so, and has been in a nursing home for almost 2 years. However, she lived alone up until she was 93 years old! What an accomplishment!
My dear sweet little Grandma Violet was so sweet; I never knew my Grandpa H. He passed away before I was born. However, Grandma had a boyfriend ("oh phooey" when asked if he was her "boyfriend" or just companion), named Ray, who passed in 2000. He was like my Grandpa.

Grandma and Ray used to drive all over the place, and loved to go out to eat. I remember going to visit her, and she always had a can of Coke ready to give to me, and was always pushing candy treats on us kids, or potato chips. 

Grandma loved animals, and had a cat, Bootsie, who was like her baby, that lived almost 20 years! 
She used to feed the squirrels, all the while, telling them to "shoo, get away now", as she fed them! LOL

Grandma and Ray used to take me and my younger brother and my 2 cousins to the Ice Capades every year, and we always had front row seats!! How she did that, I have no idea? The amazing abilities of a Grandparent!

 Grandma loved seeing my girls and they made her smile.

Not too long ago, a few months back, she didn't have her teeth in, and it really seemed to freak Kyla out. She watched Grandma without her teeth, and then as we walked down the hall of the nursing home, she kept asking every little old woman who would go by, "do YOU have your teeth in?".

 Grandma didn't want to  be in the nursing home, and she didn't want to socialize with the other members. She ate in her room, and didn't want to do therapy. She sort of "gave up", but she lived a long and hopefully, happy life. 

 She told it like it was, and she was quiet and soft spoken at the same time.  She used to babysit my brother and I, and we'd visit her sister, who used to live in the same nursing home she would someday pass away in.

It allowed my brother and I to come to love visiting the older people, believe it or not. My brother even went to one of the resident's 100th birthday party!

 

And I still recall, that when the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded, I was in 6th grade, and I was home sick, with the vomit bug, on the couch with my Grandma, when this happened. My parents were in Hawaii, and Grandma and Ray took care of me and my brother.

It's the little things I remember. Like how she had her Kleenex up her sleeve, or how she loved rummage sales and would make me a bundle when I sold my old clothes.

Poor Grandma. I feel sad writing about her, but I know she knew I loved her.

My last words last month, on our visit, was "I love you, Gram", and she answered, coherently that day, "I love you, too, honey". 

Rest in Peace, Grandma.