Let me tell ya about my Grandma

Her name was Rosella, some knew her as Rosie, mom, toots, but I knew her as Grandma. I always liked how she answered the phone.."mHello?", she would be awake any time we stopped by, even one particularlty late evening when we had driven in from Seattle...she said they were awake, but her and grandpa had bed head and sleep in their eyes. She always had the best hot wheels cars, and was open to a trade every once in awhile. If she knew I was coming over, she'd always load up her cookie jar with my favorites...but if she didn't know I was stopping by, she'd still make sure that I was greeted with a hug, a kiss, and a full cookie jar of whatever she had just made...funny enough, they were my new favorite. She would laugh at my knock-knock jokes, and encourage me to find new material....in a way that didn't make me think I had wore out the old stuff. She taught me how to help in the kitchen, and believed that kitchen helpers deserved a big reward...she always left a hearty helping in the bowl instead of scraping all the cake batter or cookie dough into the pan. she taught that the early bird gets the worm...but good things come to those who wait....somehow she knew just when to be the early bird and when to wait. her and grandpa had favorite songs they liked me to sing to them, his was "In the Garden", she liked me to sing "What a Day That Will Be." I haven't seen her for awhile, since we moved to Oregon, so I remember her as a vibrant, active person that loved to walk to the store, and stop and listen to the stories of her kids or grandchildren. Her and Grandpa were always going somewhere, even if it was to the lake to relax...which meant working on someone else's projects, fishing, or playing cards. they were the ones that taught me to appreciate Ferlin Husky, Walt Whitman, and Hank.

Grandpa has been gone for sometime, Grandma passed away this last weekend, but their memory will linger for a life time. With as many stories that they shared with me, I know there are many more that I should've heard. I hope someday that my Grandkids think fondly of me and have the opportunity to say that their grandpa was an influence to them.