Happy Birthday, Grandma

Today would have been Grandma Smarty's birthday. My dad reminded me yesterday as we were driving home from Denver. Grandma always wrote the most wonderful notes and letters to all of us on our birthday's, so, here is one to her.

Thank you, Grandma, for all the love and support you have shown your family and friends in the past and for all the fun times I had at your home.

Grandma always had games for us to play, especially Uncle Wiggly, and craft items for us to do. Remember cutting snowflakes from pieces of paper? We also made paper chains at Christmas and strung popcorn and cranberries, all to decorate the tree. We would take napkins and color the lines of the design or decorate paper plates. Such patience she had. She allowed us to make items for our little store that we would set up. The mailman almost always would buy something from us. I'll always remember crawling into her chair with her and listening to the stories she would read us. I remember scattering paper dolls around the living room and setting up a mini kitchen in the kitchen. Then there were the shows that we would have and the mess she had to deal with when we made our stage. We also used to build our own little houses, covering chairs with blankets. Grandma let us fix up a playhouse in one of the outside buildings, play in the barn, sit under the lilac bushes, start our own campfire or build a fire in the stove that was in the milk house. She fixed picnics for us to take wherever and enjoy. Sometimes we would take picnics to the creek where she let us wade in the water and play in the hills and rocks. It was always fun when Grandma would play the piano and we would sing along. I even got to go on vacations with them on occasion. Maybe it was so that Dinah would have someone to play with, but just getting to go was such a treat. I remember one especially, and that was the trip Grandpa and Grandma took us to Marble, Colorado. I also remember going to Aspen, Colorado and walking down the sidewalks listening to people playing their musical instruments in the upstairs apartments along the street. I remember getting sprayed by a skunk and taking a bath outside in the little round tub. When we took showers, we would get into the shower and wet ourselves good, then she would stand us up on the toilet seat and soap us good all over, then back into the shower to rinse off.

Oh, my, there are so many wonderful memories and they continue into my adulthood. I always felt special when I went to see my Grandma.

These are really random thoughts, in no order whatsoever. Maybe I'll write more about some of them later. If you knew Grandma, tell me what you remember about spending time with her.