Goodbye to My Grandma-in-Law

With our grandparents at our wedding, almost 10 years ago.
Of them all, only one, my step-Grandma, is still alive today.

My husband's grandmother recently passed away at the age of 92 and I wanted to pay tribute to this good woman.

She lived only about an hour and a half away from us, so I got to visit her more often then many of my husband's other relatives. In spite of her old age, she hosted an annual Easter egg hunt at her home every year without fail and participated in many other family events.  She kept busy sewing and managing a massive garden which, to my city girl eyes, appeared like a small farm.

She was a creative, generous person.  When we were expecting our first child, she brought out about a dozen handmade swaddling blankets and invited me to choose some for our new baby.  Not wanting to be greedy, I selected two blankets.  By her expression, I could tell I had done something wrong.  My husband immediately intervened and added several more blankets to our stack.

My baby seemed to appreciate the gift.  When Great Grandma first held her, at the wee age of one month-old, the baby immediately grinned.  (At that young age, my baby occasionally smiled at me too, but only after performing a complex formula of pleasing feats, like nursing+rocking+singing a song.)  I later learned that Great Grandma had this effect on all babies.  They really liked her.

I did, too.

At the Funeral