Death

indirectly visited me this week. He wasn’t very friendly; he didn’t even call to warn me he was coming. I didn’t want to let him in or even believe he was knocking at the door. But once he was there….it was too late and she was gone. I am speaking of my dear Grandma…Jennie Allison Christopher. She was 85 and it was her time to go.

I have decided to post this as a tribute to her and the life of hers that I knew. She was a quiet woman, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want a boisterous life or she wouldn’t have married my grandpa! I think she liked the constant energy he would provide to her otherwise tranquil life.

My sister and I were lucky in that we were able to intimately know my grandparents and experience what it means to get older.  We spent 3 months every summer from the time we were 3 until high school at their house. Grandma would make arts and crafts with us…from finger painting to painting the outside polls tie-dyed. She taught us how to garden; we would pick strawberries and blackberries. When she would bake pies and cookies she thought I was just there to lick the bowl, but what she didn’t know was that I was taking mental notes that would later make up the root of my appetite for baking.

My grandma makes me think of warm summer days that are carefree; days of filling our mouths with watermelon and chocolate chip cookies. We were both in our prime time. I was a child a time when you don’t have a care in the world because you don’t understand it yet. And she was a grandmother a time when you don’t have a care in the world because you realize you don’t need to completely understand the world. This combination makes for sublime experiences that you keep as memories forever.

The very reason I am here in Chile is because I was fortunate to get the travel bug from my grandparents. They carted us all over the continental United States on road trips where my sister and I practiced our mediocre vocal skills hours on end; never any complaints from the two in the front seat. Not to mention the many times they trekked us to Hawaii where we embarked on mini expeditions on horseback, ATV’s and helicopters.

I am so thankful for all the memories I have of mouse parties, homemade mayonnaise, grandma sandwiches, Mickey Mouse pancakes, and all the other things that will forever remind me of my Grandma!