Grandma, missing you, thinking of you, and loving you always

Today I was missing my Grandma.  Probably from an experience that I had with my daughter last night.  But I wanted to tell a little about my Grandma.  Her name was Ida Lucille Atchley, but everyone called her Molly.  My Grandpa sang a song to her that was popular and it was about Molly.  It was a term of endearment that became permanent.  

My Grandma always had a quilt on.  Always.  She made a quilt to give each of her grandchildren when they got married.  She made these quilts when they were born and then stowed them in the attic until it was time to gift them.  Each was labeled.  

Mom and I lived with her for a time after my parents divorced.  Mom was a waitress so nights were just me and Grandma.  Our favorite dinner was a cheese sandwich, one piece of bread with cheese melted on top.  

She loved The Price is Right.  I always promised her when I was old enough I would take her to the show and we would have matching t-shirts that said "I love Bob!"  I still hope to make it one day.  

One time Grandma came to stay with us when we lived in Twin Falls.  She shared a bed a with me.  I am not a good bed partner.  I am a bed hog- I like to sleep in the middle.  I woke up the next morning and she was gone.  I looked over the edge of the bed and she was on the floor.  I smiled and said, "What are you doing down their silly 

billy?"  

Grandma loved to look out the window.  She always new the coming and goings of the neighbors.  

She cut 2 half- circles on opposite sides of 2-liter pop bottles and hung them in the tree outside her living room window.  They made beautiful decorations when the wind blew.  

When she wasn't sewing she was resting on the love seat just in front of the front door.  There was a metal wind chime hung just inside the door that would tinkle when the door opened, announcing the arrival of visitors.  

Grandpa had rows of built in shelves across the length of one wall in her living room.  Those shelves were filled with pictures of family.  It was my job to dust all those pictures and those shelves.  It took a long time- we have a big family!  

She always had a fire going.  Plus she had a heat picture on the wall that was always turned on.  Her home was a furnace!  

She hung laundry on the line to dry.  

The day she switched from well water to city water is the day she become obsessed with water conservation.  The plants didn't look  so good from them on because she watered them with soapy bathwater.

I couldn't imagine my wedding without my Grandma there.  She was always supposed to be there.  She died in 2001, just weeks after Chant and I met.  Even though she wasn't at my wedding, she met the man I would marry, and I take great comfort in that.  I cried when I opened the black garbage sack that held my quilt.  Made just for me.  I love it with all my heart, lime-green material and all.  I will be thinking of her tonight while snuggled on the couch warm inside the quilt sewn with her stitches and her love.