(Great) Grandma Fisher

Well, before I launch into an update about the kids, I need to talk about Grandma Fisher first...

John's grandma died on the 15th, and the funeral was Saturday. It was so nice to hear so many stand up and say a few words about her. John and I learned a lot about her that we never would have heard otherwise. Like how she was one lady's Sunday School teacher and she had given her a Christmas cactus as a gift one time, and that this lady still had it after all these years. (Grandma was so shy I was amazed to hear that she taught *anything* ever! But Grandma always had oodles of Christmas cacti, so I could totally "see" her giving one away.) Another distant cousin read a letter that Grandma had written to her sister the summer she met Grandpa. Grandma was telling her in the letter how she had met a "nice boy" and he'd sent her some flowers, and that she was thinking he was probably really interested in her, etc. It was so sweet. That nice boy was Grandpa, and they were married only a few months after that letter was written. Such a treasure.

And speaking of her marriage to Grandpa... When the family was looking through Grandma's things, they found the receipt for Grandma's wedding dress kept in Grandma's coin purse. Evidently she'd kept it there all these years. (We're talking like 59 years!) If that isn't the sweetest thing I've ever heard! She was definitely a sweetheart. She paid $28 for it way back in 1947.

One of my favorite memories of Grandma happened just a few years ago. We were trying to raise $$ for our adoption, and I had a $250 order for some angel pins. After Thanksgiving that year, John and I stuffed Grandma in the back of our car and took her home with us for a few days. She helped us finish up those 500 pins, and did we ever have a wonderful time! Grandma was a woman of very few words. She'd hardly EVER talk without someone talking to her first. Consequently, in a crowd, she tended to sit quietly and just watch and listen. One on one, however, people would take more time to talk to her. While I had her all to myself, I asked her lots of things about Grandpa (who has been gone since '99), and I asked her about her parents, her boys, the baby girl she lost, her life, etc. Things I never would have known otherwise, because she never would have talked about them if no one had bothered asking. It was truly a wonderful few days.

When John's dad came to pick her up to take her home she walked down our sidewalk, and at the midpoint, she turned around, smiled at me and said, "I need one more hug." I sprang down the steps and gave her a big hug and told her I loved her and would miss her. That really meant a lot to me. I'll always keep that mental "snapshot" memory of her. It was one of the few things I've ever heard her say without someone talking to her first.

She will be very missed, but I know she is so much happier where she is, I could never wish her back... I'll definitely be looking for her one day in heaven though.