Football and Grandpa's Roses

 

Watching sports on TV is our house is nearly an everyday occurrence. My husband LOVES his college football and basketball and MLB, and I LOVE my NFL, college football and basketball, and MLB. Our youngest daughter is quite the sports nut, too, and our youngest son loves to watch any sports with us. The other four are not as avid but not against watching it.

 

 All of us have played one sport or another at some point. Softball, track, cross country, basketball, gymnastics, karate, ti kwan do, volleyball, football, soccer - basically, just about everything but lacross, polo, tennis, and water sports lol. Today, we like to run 5K's and Obstical races. We will do our first one as a 'family' with our two eldest kids when we run a Tough Mudder this June, our son's and my first, and our daughter's and my husband's third. We love to bike, go for walks, hikes, canoe trips, etc. Basically, we like to be outdoors in the beautiful world God created being active!

My avid love of football and all things sports related began when I was a kid. My best friend's Dad was a die-hard Buffalo Bills fan. Sunday's after Church, I would go over to her house to play for the afternoon. By the end of that first football season I was exposed to, I was hooked. Many Sundays I would sneak into the living room to watch the games with him. That love stuck with me my whole life and now, it's tradition in our house to have the games on every football Sunday. My grandmother also loved football, both college and NFL. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Michigan State Spartans were her boys. If you were at her house on a Saturday or Sunday, you were sure to find the games on. 

 

So what is my point with all of this on this very cold Monday morning? Partly, I am missing my football Sundays as I always do after the SuperBowl every year. Mostly because today is the 11th anniversary of my Grandmother's Heaven Birthday. It's still difficult to think about or talk about without tearing up a bit, yet I know she is where her heart always yearned to be.

 

She was an amazing person, full of character, energy, and spunk. She was generous with her advice, and even more so with her hugs. Her love of God was contagious. Blessed with grace and understanding, she taught women's Bible Study and Sunday classes for several years, as well as working in and with the choir. She was a beautiful singer, and even made a record in her youth. 'Heavens to Job' was her alternative to swearing at the football games. She lived in Plant City, FL for several years and loved to go see the Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs do their spring training down there. She was also very proud to reside in the Strawberry Capital of the world. She became close friends with anyone who lived next door to her, and always had a bowl of cucumber and onion slices in vinegar on the table for the grandkids and anyone else who might stop by to say hello. She was the first one to admit that she was not perfect, and kept a pig magnet that oinked at her on the fridge 'to keep me company while I'm in the fridge' (the pig was supposed to be a warning not a companion by the way, lol). She was proud of my grandfather and my mother, their only child. They didn't always see eye-to-eye, and she could be hard on them. She had high expectations of all her family, as she saw the potential in us all and did not want any less from us that what was absolutely best.

 

When I told her I was pregnant at 18, just out of high school, I know it broke her heart. She was fully against me getting married to the baby's father, as she knew firsthand the struggles of raising a child on a low income with no college education. She begged me to move in with her, let her help with the baby, and pursue a college degree. When I ended up choosing marriage, she still supported me by going through her cupboards and giving us dishes, tupperware, glasses, etc. (all sprinkled with love and lectures) to supplement what my Mom had already provided. When my daughter was born, she fell in love at first sight and constantly tried to find excuses to get me to bring the baby over to see her, even offering to babysit often. When I told her we were expecting another baby and my first was still under a year, she was both thrilled and furious. Again, it was love at first sight, and very little made her happier than spending a sunny afternoon playing with her great grandbabies.

 

Just 4 days after my oldest turned 2 and 2 days after I turned 20, my grandmother's beautiful soul went to be with the Lord and Father she so loved. There is so much more than can be said about her, and about the lasting influence she had on everyone who was blessed to be a part of her time here on earth. I've thought often about trying to capture it on paper to honor her memory, but how do you put into words the life of someone whose personality was so captivating, whose hugs were so healing, whose laughter so contagious, and love for God so influencing?

 

And so I choose to honor her memory by sharing stories of her, the lessons she taught me, with my children. The girls were too young to really remember her, and my son wasn't born until 2 years after her Heaven Birthday. Yet they have memories of her life, and the faith lessons she so yearned for others to learn. Every year on her Heaven Birthday, I make a meal that she taught me. Tonight is chicken enchiladas, Grandma June style. And while I am putting them together, and while my family is enjoying them, I will be remembering her life, knowing that even now her influence touches us all. And as difficult as it is to have her not with us, I will be thanking God that she is where she wanted to be for so long, in the loving arms of our Father. I have no doubt that we will meet again in Heaven. I will know which mansion is hers (and it WILL be a mansion for all the good that she did in His name during her time here on earth) - she always joked that I should look for the one with the rose bushes that my grandfather loved to plant for her out in front.  <3