Thursday, October 11, 2012

A Beautiful Life

(You'll have to click on the picture to make it bigger. I can't make it any bigger because of my blog layout. I don't have any pictures of her and I when I was younger because that was before the digital age.)

My sweet Grandma Williams (my mom's mom), passed away last night. I feel such a feeling of happiness for her. She has been without my Grandpa since I was born... that's 25 years without her husband. I am so happy they can be together again and she must be filled with so much joy right now. What a blessing! I'm so thankful for the plan of salvation.

Though I am so happy that she is where she belongs, those of us here on earth are sad to lose her. She was one of those people who took things as they came, told it like it was, and made the VERY best of her life for almost 95 years. She just had a way of making things seem good. Nothing was ever that bad.  I think that must be because of how hard she worked her whole life, the loss she had experienced in her life, and the class she handled everything with. I never tired of hearing her talk about raising her kids and owning the flower shop and her mission, etc. It's such a beautiful thing when a person is able to live such a fulfilling life and then move on in peace. I will miss her humor and her sweetness dearly, but I am so happy for her.

Some of my favorite memories of my grandma are:

- Of course, eating her delightful cinnamon rolls! Mom would always tell us not to ask her to make them because she was getting too old and tired... but grandma always wanted to make them for us every time she visited and we milked that for all it was worth.
- One time she sat outside with my neighborhood friends and I and helped us make prank phone calls when we were younger...it was truly hilarious!
- She always wore a wig when I was younger. I remember seeing her take her wig off before bed and thinking that was the weirdest thing I'd ever seen in my life! I loved when she got older and embraced her beautiful white hair and had it done up every time we'd come to visit :)
- Many games of checkers. That woman did not mess around with her checkers. Hahaha! She may have used some strong words during a game or two... all in good grandma humor of course!
- She taught me how to play Flinch. A card game similar to Skipbo.
- Her and Grandpa owned the coolest/most unique house in existence, I'm certain.
- She always spoke her mind which provided a lot of laughs. My most recent experience with this was when I told her I named my daughter Harlow. She said she thought that would sound better if it started with a "C"...Carlow?? Sorry Grandma. Lol!
- She always sent birthday and Christmas cards. Always. She never forgot me. She has like a billion grand, great grand, and great-great grandchildren combined and yet, she always remembered me, and all of us.
- The woman was sharp as a tack to the very end. She could recall distant memories and tell me things I never got to know about my grandpa. She remembered details of my mom's life and I always loved hearing those things.
-I love reading her history and stories from her mission. She was such a faithful woman. Serving the Lord her whole life.

Those are just the first things that come to mind when I think of Grandma Williams. I truly feel so very blessed to be a part of her posterity.One of the many blessings during my grandma's last couple of days was that I was able to spend some time with her last week, along with my sister and my parents. I'll post on that great trip later :) She was a part in building a beautiful family and left quite a legacy. Love you, Grandma.

9 comments:

Lisa Hullinger Hyatt said...

What an awesome tribute to your Grandma!

Danielle said...

Awesome post. Way awesome. I remember her hair/wig and I remember always hearing funny things she said. What a neat lady! I'm so grateful we know of the plan of Salvation so it makes times like these sweet instead of sad. Love you!!!!

Michael said...

I am so glad I got to meet her! stopping in beaver was always a treat.

Good to know she got to say her goodbyes, and was greeted with her loved ones on the other side.

Anessa said...

Love this post! I am so glad your Mom got to see her and that so many people got to say goodbye.
She sounds like my kind of lady :)

Carol and Bruce said...

My thoughts exactly but you have a much better way of saying things. So glad you took the time to write that, I love it. I think we may have wore her out but I'm so glad we were all there to see her off. She was hospitable right to the very end.

Carol and Bruce said...

My thoughts exactly but you have a much better way of saying things. So glad you took the time to write that, I love it. I think we may have wore her out but I'm so glad we were all there to see her off. She was hospitable right to the very end.

Courtenay Beth said...

love this and sure love grandma Fern! gives us all an example of how to live right and live it up all out lives! i remember those hilarious prank calls and hearing stories about when your mom was little and that she wanted to come visit when the raspberries were on...sweet sweet memories of a sweet sweet grandma!

Courtenay Beth said...

love this and sure love grandma Fern! gives us all an example of how to live right and live it up all out lives! i remember those hilarious prank calls and hearing stories about when your mom was little and that she wanted to come visit when the raspberries were on...sweet sweet memories of a sweet sweet grandma!

Courtenay Beth said...

love this and sure love grandma Fern! gives us all an example of how to live right and live it up all out lives! i remember those hilarious prank calls and hearing stories about when your mom was little and that she wanted to come visit when the raspberries were on...sweet sweet memories of a sweet sweet grandma!