My Grandma Judy was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis in July of 2008. She went in for a regular physical and was admitted because the oxygen level in her blood was abnormally low. She spent a couple of days at the hospital in Mason City and then was released, but she had to be on oxygen 24/7 from that point on. It was a shock to all of us when she was admitted the first time because she seemed perfectly fine. Grandma started going to Rochester to visit Mayo Clinic and over the last couple of years they had given so many different (negative) prognoses. Right away we were told that she wouldn’t be here the next summer, and then at the next check up we were told that she wouldn’t make it to Christmas, etc. None of us expected the news to get any better as time went on, but it was still hard to hear those kinds of things from the doctors.
Mom spent a lot of time with Grandma and noticed when anything was just a little off. About two weeks ago she noticed how out of breath Grandma was, so she made an appointment to go back to Rochester for another check up. On May 19th, Grandma was admitted to St. Mary’s and stayed there until the 24th. Keaton and I went up to see her and I got to give her one last hug and one last kiss before she came back to Mason City and went to a Hospice facility. She passed away in the morning on May 25th.
I can’t believe she’s actually gone and I don’t think it will sink in for quite a while. Grandma was so lively, so witty, so honest, and so funny. My mom and I made the best of these last couple of years we had with Grandma and we were so close. Most kids don’t go to visit their grandparents “just because” but my brother and I always did. It’s the little things like that that make life so special.
Many of my favorite memories came from girls weekends – a time where we (Grandma Judy, Mom, and I) would get together with Grandma’s sister/my great aunt Bonnie, her three daughters and their girls. Our weekend outings always had a theme and trust me, there was never a dull moment with our group! The last get-together we had was at Bonnie’s house in Britt and the theme was “Crazy Hair and Scarves.” Before going out to a small town bar, we got our crazy hairdo’s ready and let me just say that there were teasing combs, bobby pins, hair pins, banana clips, and hairspray residue EVERYWHERE! When we were all ready to go, it looked like we were going to a 1970’s middle school dance with our big hair and gross extensions! Grandma wore a set of extensions and she had the gnarliest mullet EVERRRRR!!! It was hilarious. The sad thing was, she wasn’t the only one sporting a mullet in the bar…I’d say that those without the mullets were in the minority! Here are some pictures of the big hair and some other outings that we've had in the past. Enjoy!
Lindy was helping Grandma to the bathroom. Both of them are wearing extensions. I'm sure everyone at the bar was envious of their mullets. :)
You can see the colorful clips in the back of my hair and Kelly's "pretty" clips from Dollar General. Haha!
Bonnie and Grandma twirling their wig-hair. How beautiful!
Mama Bear and I with our crocheted attire that her and Grandma made. This was from our "Go Green" weekend last March.
Grandma, Bonnie, and their brother drinking the "Green Grog" -- yummmm!
Taking a break from Shang-Hai (the card game we play at all family events) to take some "Coconut Kelly" shots.
This was the weekend we spent in Kansas City and went on a scavenger hunt in the mall. I would have to say that this weekend was probably one of my favorites. Some of the items on our scavenger hunt list were: a fruitcake (however you may take that), a mullet, a man with a braided ponytail, a man holding/modeling lingerie, red shoes, a woman wearing white socks with mary janes, "hooker boots", and a celebrity look a like...just to name a few! We split our group into three teams and each team got a disposable camera to take pictures of their findings. After a couple hours on the hunt, my team was waiting around to take a picture of a kid crying on Santa's lap when we were(...dun dun dun...) BUSTED by "Barney Fife" the female mall cop. We got in trouble for taking pictures of people without them knowing/their permission (which we had for most of the pictures) and not clearing our little game with the mall. I can understand why they didn't want us taking pictures of young children without permission, but sorry lady...you can't ruin our fun! Regardless of getting busted, we all had a blast.
Our team! The color of the weekend was orange. I'm sure that helped all the mall cops spot us. Dang it!
One fruitcake holding up another. :)
Julie with our celebrity look a like -- Dr. Torres from Grey's Anatomy. Close enough, right?!
My team tracked down this man in Victoria's Secret and asked him to pose in the store with his girlfriend's lingerie. We were about to take the picture and then got stopped and told we couldn't take pictures in the store, so after his girlfriend bought them he modeled them for us outside of VS. Love how it turned out!
(We're missing Kerri and Julie)
After the VFW, we went around to a couple of the vendor sites for our wine samples. Our first taste of the day was "Nic and Vic" from Mt. Valley in Forest City. I'd have to say this is a family favorite! (My family and I visited their vineyard last fall and it was so much fun! It's definitely something I would recommend doing if you're around the area and haven't been there already.)
There was lots to see and do on Main Street of Clear Lake but at last it was time for the grape stomping competition! Our group had three teams: Lindy and Kelly (Judy's Juicers), Melissa and Jenny (Purple Toe-Jammers), and Mom and I (Smashing Wine-o's). Mom and I made it to the final round (Hooray!) and it was raining in spurts but we still had our cheering section!
Boo to the rain!
The girls cheering us on. :)
Ready....(We were nervous!)
Set....("Hold me! Don't let me fall!")
GO GO GO GO GO!!!!
After we won round 1.
Right after we found out we won the whole thing -- such a celebratory picture! I love Lindy's cry for joy in the corner!
CHAMPIONS!!! Posing for the paparazzi...riiiiight!
We won $100 Clear Lake Dollars so we went back to the VFW for buckets of beer!
As you can see, we have a lot of fun. Even if I didn't realize it at the time, I am so lucky to have these girls in my family. They were always there for Grandma and they kept Mom sane while she was in the hospital for 18+ hours a day during Grandma's stay. Chad, her nurse, said that Grandma was so lucky to have the support system that she did and he wished all families could say the same.
As Kelly said: "The life of the party has moved on. What a ride. We will miss you Aunt Judy, but know since you're not around we're going to talk about you. Bet on it. I'm ringing the bell."
I'm posting the link to my Uncle's website so you can read the message he gave at Grandma's funeral. It was perfect. :) http://www.kevindahle.net/wordpress/
We love and miss you Grandma!
.JPG)
Thank you EVERYONE for your thoughts and prayers.
Thanks to all the MnM's for being there for my mom...you guys are the best!
Thanks for sharing your memories - your family loves, laughs, cries and laughs some more! I love the picture of you and your grandma Judy - what beautiful women inside and out. Keep smiling and remember...Be Kind :) KIM
ReplyDeleteAwww...Courtney, what a great post. I KNOW that you genuinely appreciate and care for your family. They are so lucky - you've obviously learned a lot from your Grandma. Love you!!
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