Twila, Part 2

Well, I got the call this morning that my grandma passed away last night. I know she is in a better place and with her family and friends who went before her. I want to just share a few memories and thoughts: Whenever she and Grandpa would come down to my childhood home in San Diego, she would make Cream Puffs and fill them full with vanilla pudding. She gave us coins from her purse. When my younger brother's leg was broken and he was confined to a body cast, she made tapes of herself reading books so he could listen to them (I would listen, too, of course). She wrote me faithfully while we lived in Scotland and I was lonely for correspondence. She made fun salads with baby shrimp and jello. I spent most of my Thanksgivings while I was at college with her and Grandpa, and she would always make a good meal and then hurry to clean it up--without the benefit of a dishwasher. Before we ate Grandpa would always look at her and say, "Well, I suppose I ought to say it," and she would look at him with a feigned reservation and say, "I suppose you should," and then he'd say, "Well, it's good to get a square meal for once." She liked to make cookies and peanut brittle at Christmas. She liked looking after her those who were in need and would pick up the mail for her ailing neighbors. The last few years before she left her home in Downey she would bake angel food cakes for funerals. She claimed to buy them by the case. She and Grandpa were always busy in the shop, making things for people--building desks, beds, shelves, and blocks. Whenever we visited her in her new home, the kids would always get out the blocks to play and she'd look at them and say, "That was a good toy that we made. I don't know how many hundreds of boxes of blocks we made out in the shop." She was proud and grateful for her children and she especially liked Husband, because he would always help clean up after meals without being asked. She didn't care much about material things and was generous her substance. She liked to go for rides in the car and enjoyed doing word search puzzles. She crocheted when she was younger and made afgans and rugs. She was always cheerful and fun to visit, and had a paper taped to her wall that said "I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition." What a wonderful lady, the world needs more like her.