Grandma Marge

Today is my Grandma Marge's 89th birthday, and I want to honor her by sharing some of the countless memories I have of her from my childhood.

It didn't occur to me back then how fortunate my brother and I were to live so close to all of our grandparents; Grandpa and Grandma Horton lived three or four blocks from where we grew up, and Gramps and Grandma Marge lived three or four miles from where we grew up.

I remember spending the night with my cousin, Amanda, at Grandma Marge's house. 

I remember what seemed like hundreds of tubes of lipstick standing neatly in a cabinet in her bathroom.  She'd let me pick a color either for her to wear that day or for me to try on.  Even now, when I apply my lipstick, I think about Grandma.

We played lots of Yahtzee.  My mind's eye can still see Grandma's neat handwriting on those score cards.

Another game we played would start with Grandma coming up with a really big word.  We would then try to see who could come up with the most words using the letters from the really big word.  On one such occasion, she let me use the dictionary.  I was looking for words beginning with "c" that would work.  I got to "condom" and wrote it down without reading its definition.  When Grandma saw what I had written, she gasped!  She then explained in a G-rated way what condoms are.  True story.

I remember bubble baths with way too many bubbles.

Wiener roasts...lots of kittens outside...chicken drummies...the funny sunglasses in Grandma's glove compartment...sliding down the stair rail...

Oh, how thankful I am for these and many more memories.

Grandma Marge, 10/16/2010

Also, I was thrilled this morning to find out that Grandma Marge now shares her birthday with Maci Lynn, the newborn daughter of Garrett's teacher, Julie.  She arrived this morning at 5:26.  Can't wait to meet her!