{"id":2366,"date":"2012-11-07T17:33:19","date_gmt":"2012-11-07T22:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.handsful.com\/?p=2366"},"modified":"2012-11-07T17:33:19","modified_gmt":"2012-11-07T22:33:19","slug":"my-grandma-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.handsful.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2366","title":{"rendered":"My Grandma"},"content":{"rendered":"\"\"<\/a>\n

My Grandmom, Dorothy West Hamilton, went home to be with the Lord yesterday morning. \u00c2\u00a0She’d been suffering from mouth cancer for quite a while, went through one surgery and other cancer treatments. \u00c2\u00a0It seemed the tumor was shrinking, but then came back with a vengeance. \u00c2\u00a0Within just a few short days, she went from talking over old memories with my parents, to bedridden and unable to eat. \u00c2\u00a0When given the choice, she refused IV fluids…telling my dad that she was ready to go Home. \u00c2\u00a0Two days later, she was there.<\/p>\n

I’m so thankful that we had the chance to visit her, one last time, on Monday. \u00c2\u00a0She was sleeping heavily, morphine doses every 2 hours, and was basically unresponsive. \u00c2\u00a0But, I choose to believe that she knew we were there, and heard me telling her how much I loved her, and what an amazing Grandma she’d been to me. \u00c2\u00a0I will always treasure that, like I’ll treasure the wonderful memories I have with her.<\/p>\n

Like…<\/p>\n

She called all of her Grandkids “tootsie”. \u00c2\u00a0I loved that.<\/p>\n

From the time I was 4, we lived down the street from Grandma. \u00c2\u00a0In fact, we lived in 3 different houses on the SAME street during my childhood. \u00c2\u00a0But, that’s another story. \u00c2\u00a0So, I spent a lot of time up at her house. \u00c2\u00a0What a blessing.<\/p>\n

I loved her house. \u00c2\u00a0It was small, with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath. \u00c2\u00a0Down the very small hall was a huge grate that brought in heat (coal? \u00c2\u00a0I’m not sure…), and when you looked down, it was glowing bright red. \u00c2\u00a0As a child, that was very mysterious to me.<\/p>\n

I remember spending nights with her as a child. \u00c2\u00a0She’d always let me sleep with her, in her bed. \u00c2\u00a0And the best part was her letting me wear her silky nightgowns…which she always safety-pinned to fit.<\/p>\n

Her house backed up to the local little league field, with a fence between. \u00c2\u00a0Her yard was elevated from it, and there was a tree right at the fence. \u00c2\u00a0Us kids (me and my cousins) would climb the tree and watch whatever game was going on. \u00c2\u00a0We felt like we had the best seats in the house.<\/p>\n

Grandma was the best cook. \u00c2\u00a0Ever. \u00c2\u00a0My favorites being her green beans (I can’t cook them like she did…), chicken pastry (think dumplings, only they’re large, flat noodles), and her homemade chocolate pie. \u00c2\u00a0I’ve almost got the last one down. \u00c2\u00a0I remember the first time I tried it, the filling didn’t get thick enough. \u00c2\u00a0She told me to cook and stir it longer. \u00c2\u00a0She was right.<\/p>\n

I have a sweet tooth, and I’m sure I got it from Grandma. \u00c2\u00a0She LOVED her sweets, any and every kind. \u00c2\u00a0Especially pie. \u00c2\u00a0Meals to her were a vehicle to get to the dessert. \u00c2\u00a0I totally get that.<\/p>\n

As you can see in the pic, she had beautiful, soft white hair. \u00c2\u00a0I want HER hair when mine goes gray. \u00c2\u00a0For years she fought it, though, and died it jet black! \u00c2\u00a0As a kid, I remember watching her at her kitchen sink, squirting what looked like black ink all over her head. \u00c2\u00a0The stuff stained whatever it touched, it was quite a sight! \u00c2\u00a0We finally talked her into going “natural” and she never looked better.<\/p>\n

Grandma had a dog years ago, named Tippy. \u00c2\u00a0He was a black and white mutt, and cute as could be. \u00c2\u00a0I didn’t have a dog, so it was fun to play with him. \u00c2\u00a0I remember how sad we were when he died.<\/p>\n

Grandma’s house was always the meeting point for parades downtown. \u00c2\u00a0She lived within walking distance, so everyone parked their cars there and walked down to main street.<\/p>\n

In fact, her house was always bustling with family and friends. \u00c2\u00a0She was very social, and loved being busy. \u00c2\u00a0She also loved talking on the phone. \u00c2\u00a0My parents would get irritated at her…her phone was ALWAYS busy, it was impossible to get a hold of her. \u00c2\u00a0Sometimes we’d have to walk up the street and knock on her door :)<\/p>\n

I loved hearing stories of Grandma’s life. \u00c2\u00a0She married my dad’s dad at the age of 15. \u00c2\u00a0She had 5 children, and they lived on a farm. \u00c2\u00a0She married my granddad, and he died when my dad was 18. \u00c2\u00a0She re-married after 7 years, only to have him pass away 5 months later. \u00c2\u00a0From then on, she lived alone.<\/p>\n

Grandma did have a “boyfriend” for many years. \u00c2\u00a0I remember Jimmy as the tall, skinny man who always greeted me with whatever change he had in his pocket. \u00c2\u00a0He was a very sweet man, and was a blessing to Grandma.<\/p>\n

In later years, after Randy and I were married, we started a tradition of having a casual get-together at our house on Christmas eve. \u00c2\u00a0It was always my parents, Randy’s mom and step-dad, and Grandma. \u00c2\u00a0Once the kids were born, it was a kid-fest…holding babies and watching them be silly as they anticipated the next morning. \u00c2\u00a0Lots of laughter, lots of food, and many memories.<\/p>\n

As our kids got older, and we visited her, she would NOT let them leave without something sweet (remember the sweet tooth?). \u00c2\u00a0Candy for each one, packs of cookies, etc. \u00c2\u00a0There was always a “going away” present.<\/p>\n

I hope Grandma knew just how much I loved her. \u00c2\u00a0How much we all did. \u00c2\u00a0She was the sweetest (I keep using that word, sweet…) woman and everyone adored her. \u00c2\u00a0Remembering her will be easy, and I’ll continue to share these memories and more with my kids so that they can always remember, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My Grandmom, Dorothy West Hamilton, went home to be with the Lord yesterday morning. \u00c2\u00a0She’d been suffering from mouth cancer for quite a while, went through one surgery and other cancer treatments. \u00c2\u00a0It seemed the tumor was shrinking, but then came back with a vengeance. \u00c2\u00a0Within just a few short days, she went from talking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsful.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsful.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsful.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsful.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsful.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsful.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2366\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsful.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsful.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsful.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}