Selma Irene - September 7, 1923 - December 18, 2006

Photo taken by Sarah Holden at our wedding September 23, 2006

My Grandmother passed away last night. My Dad called me this morning just before I left for work. I'm glad he caught me at home instead of in the car or in the office. It gave me more time to regroup.

She had been unresponsive since last Wednesday. I had my major breakdown then as I already knew she was on her way to a better place. I'm very saddened by this but I know that it is better for her to move on than to be stuck in a body that is giving up here on earth.

I constantly hear her laughter in my head. This crazy staccato laugh (that many of my uncles have inherited.) She was a talker - you could sit and chat for hours - about the Twins, about the weather, about her neighbors, about the farm, about her kids (10 of them!), about her spoon collection, about her very cool glassware (I often would ask for "tours" Of her glass) and about her quilts. Sometimes she would pull them out and have me lay them on the living room floor so she could tell me about the fabrics - often times they were made from scraps or from old 'farm shirts' of my Grandpa's. She made a beautiful yo-yo quilt while my Grandpa was in the nursing home and loved to lay that out too. So delicate, so time consuming! My Grandma once embroidered for me a set of dish (drying) towels. They have what I like to think of as a "40's" couple on them - well, the woman every day either baking, cleaning, sewing, ironing, etc...and on Sunday the two of them going out on the town. I love those towels and will use them til they absolutely fall apart. So maybe she's part of where I got my craftyness from, huh?

I'm incredibly grateful that she was able to come to our wedding. She loved big events and family and wanted to go so badly. I'm also grateful that I got to see her and visit with her on Thanksgiving.

I will post some older pics later when I find them. I did a slideshow for her 80th birthday but the computer is at Jason's house so it might take some time to find & extract them. Hopefully they're still on there!