Iris

We had my Grandmother Iris's funeral this week.  I'm still processing that. My grandmother is gone.

 http://www.transylvaniatimes.com/story/2013/09/05/obituaries/iris-l-lott/14504.html

Is it reasonable to say that I will miss someone I have seen very little of in the past several years?  Perhaps it is more accurate to say that I will miss the idea of her.  I will miss knowing she is there if and when I chose to go visit.  I miss the grandmother I knew as a little girl. 

There are things I want to share with you about my grandmother:

• She was 93 years old at the time of her passing.  She lived a long and full life.
• She was a Navy wife, who had to move her family of 5 a lot.
• She had so many grandchildren, step-grandchildren, and great-grandchildren I don't know how she ever kept track of us all.
• I called her on 9/11 to see if she had heard anything from my cousin who was working in the Pentagon at the time - and ended up listening as she talked about her memories of Pearl Harbor as a young wife. 
• She is the only person who ever called me by my full name.  Always - not just when I was in trouble.
• She always smelled like Johnson's Baby Cream.  And always had a tub of it on her bathroom counter.
• She would ask you what you wanted to drink with lunch or dinner, but was going to give you milk anyway.
• She always put butter on sandwiches
• She always seemed to have ice cream in her freezer
• She loved to watch baseball games
• I loved having her scratch my back.  When I was recovering from chicken pox, she took one finger and traced around the scabs so she could scratch my back for me without risking scars from the pox.
• When my cousin and I told her how much we wanted to ride in an airplane - she found a deal on tickets, took us by plane to Charlotte where we had lunch and flew back on the same day.
• She introduced me to my life long friend, Teresa
• She had an organ (not a piano, an organ) in her living room and would let little girls sit and play at it.
• When it had rained hard, she would take us to a place where the creek always flowed over the road to drive through the water.  And would let us roll down the windows so we could get splashed.
• When I was in middle school she took me shopping and bought me a beautiful green cable-knit sweater that made me feel like I was queen of the preppies.
• She gave me books about the saints to read, which led to a fascination with St. Kateri Tekawitha for a year or two  
• She always sent greeting cards she had bought to support Boy's Town or some other charitable cause.