Monday, April 11, 2011

Raindrops on Roses..

As a little girl, I was lucky enough to have my Great Grandma Lou in my life.  A lot.  I spent so much time with her that I distinctly remember asking her to marry me with a ring I had won at Chuck E Cheese.  She was one of my best friends, and when I lost her I was twenty-one years old.  Most people don't get to have their great-grandparents in their lives for that long, if at all.  One of my favorite memories of her is eating ice cream sundaes and watching The Sound of Music for the bazillionth time.  Oh, how she loved that movie!  I remember dancing around her teeny little living room, singing and dancing to the musical numbers.  Grandpa Woody, kicked back in his recliner, would just watch and smile.
To this day, if The Sound of Music is on TV, I will watch it.  Nevermind that I have the DVD or that I have honestly seen the movie more times than I can count.  It still draws me in and brings me back to when I was a kid, dancing with my Gram.  It's a reminder of a simpler time in life.. before I had to worry about bills, sickness, and making dinner.  It's spring now, the Lenten season.  I think of my Gram a lot.  It's her birthday in a couple weeks, so I am paying homage to my first best friend (besides Mom & Dad and siblings of course) by reflecting on the simpler things in life.. my "Favorite Things." ("My Favorite Things" song)

*The clean smell after a good rain
*Good jellybeans
*Big, thick books and the smell of the new pages as I turn them
*Old fashioned, beautiful-smelling roses
*Baseball season
*Fresh-mown grass
*Clean sheets that were dried on the clothesline outside
*That "newborn baby" smell
*A brand new hairdo
*Andes Mint Pie
*White Hot Cocoa from Caribou Coffee
*The entire Christmas season
*Leisurely walks with the kids
*Taking that perfect picture
*Lilacs
*Baby toads, and the wonder they inspire in my kids
*Sleep Number beds
*Good chocolate
*Cheese

There are so many more, but now it's time to go tend to two of my other favorite "things": my kids.

What are your favorite things?

2 comments:

  1. Always gotta make me cry, huh, Linsey?

    From reading this it looks like your great-grandma and my grandma gave us some of the same great memories.

    My grandma moved to the town where I live when I was 18, about a year after my grandpa died and she sold the farm outside of Elk River.

    I spent a lot of time with her from when I was 18 until she died when I was 37. There are so many things that cause me to think of her...shopping, home made noodles, flowers, drying clothes on the line, driving her wherever she needed (she could drive, but if I drove she could watch the world go by), birds singing, Twizzlers, grape pop, singing, Mass, rain, sun...I think you get the idea.

    I go through my days and don't dwell on the fact that I miss her so much, but instead embrace the memories of her.

    Now I'm going to go do one of HER favorite things and cuddle one of her great-grandchildren.

    Love ya, Linsey!

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  2. My Gram was pretty special, that's for sure. I think about her often and how she always had a special zest for life. She was a firecracker for sure! I hope my girls have a relationship with their "Greats" that's as good as mine was. It's a gift not everyone gets to have.
    And yes, I aim to make you cry. LOL
    Love ya Chris!

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