Belated Thank you notes... and Visiting Grandma

Susie of  From My Home To Yours  hosted a Give Away last fall for this vintage copy of "The Susie Book" and I was the winner.  To go right to the October Give Away Post click HERE! To make things easier, I will call this Susie, "Blogger Susie", and my Susie, "Pastor Susie" (fitting because she is one of my pastors).  The contest was to celebrate Blogger Susie's birthday.  She asked each person to write about a Susie they knew, and why we thought this book should be passed to our Susie.

It took this long to post a "Thank You" because I hadn't given the book Pastor Susie yet, and I knew that she occasionally read my blog.  I didn't want to spoil the surprise.  I intended it for Christmas, but I was laid up and unable to drive.  Next plan was for her birthday... still unable to drive, so after this long story... today was the day!  I was able to get out of the house for a couple of hours.  It felt so good to drive again.  I dropped in on Pastor Susie at her office and finally gave her the book.  It was fun to win, but even more fun to pass the book along to Pastor Susie!

I just want to thank Blogger Susie for hosting the Give Away.  Take some time to visit her beautiful blog.  She has a lot of fun decorating ideas, and loves antiques and gardening. 

My friend, Donna of Cottage Days and Journeys hosted her Give Away to celebrate her two-year blogging anniversary.  To read Donna's post go HERE.  The prize was a lovely polymer clay pen, shown below with my dream journal and notebook.  I love the swirly purple and green colors, and it writes beautifully.  The pen was made by Jackie of The Pleasant Pheasant.  To see Jackie's other creations, visit her Etsy shop HERE. 

I hope you'll take a moment to visit Donna's blog HERE.  She writes about her life, her travels, and shares her talent in photography.  It's always a pleasure to sit down and visit there for a while.

The other blessing of getting out of the house was getting to visit my Grandma.  I hadn't gotten to see her since November.  I had tried talking with her over the telephone a couple of times, but she doesn't do well on the phone anymore.  I'm always amazed, and so blessed, to find that she still knows me.  Her memory comes and goes, but as soon as I said "Hi Grandma" she reached for a hug and said "There's my girl."  She was sitting up in her wheelchair at the dining table.  It was about 30 minutes till dinner and the staff was starting to get everyone seated.  As I sat there and took her hand, she took hold with both of hers.  

It's not always easy when a loved one begins to lose their memory.  You never know from one visit to the next what they will remember.  There were several times when she faded a bit and didn't respond, so we just sat.  She laughed a little when I asked her to sing me a song.  Whenever I hear Mahalia Jackson sing, it reminds me of my Grandma singing.  That's why I keep a couple of her songs on my playlist.  I grew up hearing Grandma singing.  She had a very low alto, almost tenor voice.  She taught me to harmonize.  We used to do duets together... that seems so long ago now.  Beautiful, precious memories that I treasure.  I have been so blessed in my life.

Copyright February 02, 2010 ajj