Family Reunion!

Jasmine with her Great-Grandma, Grammy!

And with Samantha and Sabrina!

And with Levi, Thomas and Tanner!

And with cousins, Sierra and Slade from Idaho! Can't see too much of Jasmine but that's because I was mostly trying to get a picture of Sierra and Slade with Grammy.

We went to Gresham on Saturday to the Mecham Family reunion. We go every two years. We hadn't been able to see Grammy since the last one and were so thrilled to be able to see her. She just turned 89 in April and has gone from 5'2" down to 4'8" over the past few years. But to me, she's just the way I always remembered her from my childhood.

There is no one quite like my Grandmother. She always loved me unconditionally and treated each of her grandchildren like they were special. I remember doing laundry with her as a child. She didn't have a dryer, just one of those old fashioned washing machines that you had to thread the clothing through. She always warned me to stay back so I wouldn't get any body parts sucked into that thing. Then we would go outside to hang the clothes on the line. To this day, I love to hang clothes on the line. Back then she would give me an apron to wear and I filled up the pockets with clothes pins to hand her.

We planted gardens and weeded them and eventually picked the vegetables that grew. They always tasted the best when we grew them in her garden. I admired her ability to cook and keep a tidy house. They were frugal but she always had my grandpa's favorite candy bar in the freezer (Uno bars) and his favorite mints in the top drawer in the kitchen (York thin mints).

On Sunday nights we would go to their house for homemade milkshakes and popcorn while we watched The Wonderful World Of Disney on t.v. We didn't have a t.v. so it was a special treat to go to Grammy and Pa's house and watch with them.

Grammy made the best buckwheat pancakes and homemade syrup. To this day, they are still my favorite. Her homemade bread, stew and chili still top my favorites list!

She enjoyed making quilts and kept busy making them for her her grandchildren and then great grandchildren. Her quilts are the best and we treasure them.

She always let me help her with whatever she was doing. She was patient and never rushed or hurried me along. She helped me say my prayers when I spent the night with them and made me a warm little bed on the floor at the foot of their bed. I remember feeling so safe sleeping there on the floor.

I have so many wonderful memories of my grandmother. She taught me so much and continues to do so. But now a disease has taken hold of her and she lives her life remembering very little. It broke my heart to have to introduce my children to her on Saturday. She didn't remember them. She told Levi she hadn't seen him since he was about 2 and that he had really grown. It had been 2 years but so much has changed for her in that time. She didn't remember any of the other children younger than him.

There are some things she remembers like it was yesterday and her face lights up to talk about it but there's not many of those memories left for her.

My grandfather died 18 years ago. He was 16 years older than my grandmother. I know he's up there waiting for her. I will miss her terribly when it's her time to go but I can only imagine the reunion she'll have when she sees her sweetheart again.

We love you Grammy!