Today would be my Granda Hemmer’s 110th birthday. She died in the fall of my senior year of high school. Labor Day weekend that year the youth group at church went on a camping trip. I’d never been camping and really wanted to go, but Mom and Dad said I should go with them to visit relatives in IL. When Grandma passed away several weeks later I was glad I had made the trip to see her for what would be the last time.
There is much to be said for this wonderful Christian lady. Her husband was killed early in their marriage when their children were 18 months (my mom) and 3 months old. She raised her young children through the Depression and moved in with her mother and single sisters. She was a widow for 50 years and 1 day. She did much through her church to help the unfortunate around the world. And she cooked.
But today I think about the many different things that happen that make me think of Grandma Hemmer. Whenever I hear “emphysema” or “asthma”, I think of how a lady who never smoked a day in her life suffered from both in her later years.
Yesterday at the farmer’s market I saw the biggest cinnamon rolls. I thought, “It doesn’t matter how big they are, they will never be as good as Grandma Hemmer’s!”
When I garden I think she would be proud of me. I remember her big vegetable gardens along with the beautiful flowers she grew around the edges. And when my garden gets too weedy I think, “Grandma Hemmer’s garden would never look like this!”
When I get hungry for molasses cookies I think of Granda Hemmer.
On the few occasions I putz around in the kitchen cooking various things, I think it’s my grandma coming out in me.
Last night my mom reminded me it would be Grandma’s birthday today, but every year the first time I write the date on August 2, I’m reminded of Grandma Hemmer.
2 comments:
That is nice, Rhoda.
Very nice. I think she must have had basil in her garden b/c whenever I smell my one little basil plant, I think of her.
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